Will GTA 6 cost £80? Report says there’s industry “hope” Rockstar will usher in another game price rise

An annual report into the state of video games has raised eyebrows for suggesting Rockstar will sell the long-awaited behemoth that is GTA 6 for $100 – around £80.

The amount could be justified by the game’s enormous budget and would fit with a similar move by GTA publisher Take-Two back at the start of the current console generation, when it helped lead the charge in raising game prices previously.

Indeed, the report – published by Matthew Ball of Epyllion – suggests there is “hope” within the wider video game industry that prices do rise closer to an average £80/$100 price point to reflect rising development costs.

In 2020, the launch of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S saw the average boxed game release shift upwards to around £70 here in the UK. Numerous big budget releases also offer premium editions priced even higher, with added in-game content, or early access dangled as an incentive.

But will it happen? Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad has offered another view, which is that GTA 5 has – and continues to – earn so much recurring revenue through GTA Online that a higher price to play the game upfront isn’t necessary.

“I’d be surprised if this happens,” Ahmad wrote on X. “If anything Take-Two could afford to lower the price (they won’t) to get more people in given how much they earn via GTA Online.

“Besides, you don’t need to raise prices when a good chunk of pre-orders will be for a $100 SKU with bonuses anyway.”

Last month, Eurogamer spoke with Shawn Layden, former chairman of PlayStation Worldwide Studios, on the issue of ballooning game costs and what he believes should be done to bring prices down.

“I’m afraid we’ve built AAA gaming into a kind of cathedral business, and it just can’t grow any further,” Layden said. “In fact, it’s probably grown too far already.”