A few years ago, most major AAA games cost $60. Then came price increases, with game after game costing $70. This week we’re hearing more and more discussion about the most anticipated game of 2025, Grand Theft Auto 6, which could potentially cost not $70, not $80, or even $90… but $100.
Is it really possible?
The $100 GTA 6 suggestion comes from Epyllion CEO and analyst Matthew Ball at extensive presentation on the state of gaming in 2025 published last week. Nearby end of presentationBall says that “some game developers are hoping that GTA 6 will be priced in the $80 to $100 range, breaking the $70 barrier and helping $50 titles rise to $60, $60 to $70, $70 to $80, etc. “.
“The prices of bundled games have never been lower in real terms than they are today – even though budgets are at an all-time high and player development is at a standstill,” Ball writes. “GTA 6 Could Bring Video Game Prices Back After Decades of Deflation, Despite Skyrocketing Costs.”
Ball’s report doesn’t directly state that GTA 6 will cost $100, only that some game developers hope it will cost around that much. However, the mere suggestion sparked grave debate on social media about whether it’s possible or advisable for GTA 6 to cost so much, and whether it would really assist the industry… or GTA. So I reached out to a few other analysts to get their thoughts on the matter. And they had… thoughts.
Can GTA 6 actually cost $100?
Sure it can, says Mat Piscatella, an analyst at Circana. Anything is possible, especially for a game as highly anticipated as GTA 6. But is this a likely and reasonable outcome? “Probably not.”
Joost van Dreunen, NYU Stern professor and author of the SuperJoost newsletter, agreed that a price raise would be a “mistake” for Take-Two and Rockstar, noting that it is unlikely to deviate from what made GTA 5 work for them the way it did. All right :
“Their success with GTA 5 was due in part to their pricing strategy – releasing the game at a standard price at the end of the console cycle and then selling another copy to the same players when they moved to new consoles,” he said. “They will likely stick with this proven approach, although they will certainly offer premium editions with extras at higher prices.”
I spoke to five different analysts and they all largely agreed that GTA 6 would be priced no higher than the usual $70… at least for the base game. Because both Piscatella and Rhys Elliott of MIDiA have pointed out a critical gap here: Publishers they are already here charging $100 for games.
“Most big AAA games already go for $100 (sometimes more) in the first 3-7 days before release, but they call it ‘early access’ and the name says ‘collector’s edition,'” he said. “Publishers have taken over collector’s editions to charge higher fees for ‘early access’ – that is, delayed access for consumers who do not want to pay the markup.”
Elliott cited several publishers already using this strategy, such as WB Games (Hogwarts Legacy), Xbox (Starfield), EA (EA Sports FC 25) and Ubisoft (Star Wars: Outlaws).
However, he added that the idea of charging $100 for a “base game” without these additional add-ons would be “a bridge too far,” even for GTA.
“They would have succeeded either way,” he said. “GTA 6 will be a cultural phenomenon and may cost $100, but the player response would be significant, and that would be a short-term gain at a long-term cost. Maximizing premium revenue on day one and shocking mass consumers is not an art, especially in today’s economy. And while many players will be playing GTA 6’s single-player mode, it’s online where the engagement – and recurring revenue – comes from. This is where real revenue comes in. Rockstar wouldn’t want to limit its total addressable market there.
“One of GTA 6’s main challenges is convincing players to abandon GTA 5’s online component, so creating unnecessarily higher switching costs would not be wise in this case.”
How much for GTA Online?
Elliott brings up a key point here: GTA 5 was a huge success, but what really kept it selling five million units a quarter for a decade was the online multiplayer playground, GTA Online. This begs the question: even if GTA 6 is priced at $70, how much will its GTA Online version cost? Will Rockstar and Take-Two really keep this game going at no extra cost like before?
This is what James McWhirter, senior gaming analyst at Omdia, thinks.
“GTA Online has been key to GTA 5’s continued success, driving premium sales and subscription service licensing; It is unlikely that Take-Two’s precedent will prevent the launch of GTA 6,” he said. “Alternative pricing patterns will likely only emerge once we have built a strong player base for next-gen GTA Online, anchoring long-term engagement. The real challenge is ensuring continuity between the two live GTA Online games. Depending on how Take-Two handles this change, alternative business models may emerge sooner or later.”
Elliott largely agrees that it will most likely be the same model as before, pointing out that both GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 didn’t premiere their online modes until shortly after the main game’s release. But he also sees the potential for other possibilities:
“While I think we’ll see something similar with GTA 6 and its online component, I also see a world where Rockstar releases them completely separately,” he said. “If they did this, they would probably add some online additions to the “single-player version” to encourage players to play online as well. Another option is to play through the main story in GTA 6 and then add more story content to the online mode – perhaps the best of both worlds.
“In terms of subscriptions, Rockstar will likely continue with what it has established with GTA+, perhaps also adding a battle pass as a complement.”
Five million per quarter
I’ve been covering Take-Two’s earnings calls for a few years now, and inevitably every quarter, as I recall, they’ve managed to sell five million copies of GTA 5 while making a ton of money outside of GTA Online, despite the game being over a decade aged. It’s difficult to imagine any other game ever reaching or exceeding this level of success.
But if any game can do it, it’s GTA 6, seemingly without the need to upset players by increasing the prices of base games. Assuming GTA 6’s cost and launch plan are roughly the same as GTA 5, van Dreunen concluded his answer with a prediction. That’s one it has already done this in December 2023but what it also currently stands for: GTA 6 can and will match or exceed the success of GTA 5.
“When GTA 5 launched in 2013, approximately 29% of console gamers (35 million) bought a copy,” he said. “Assuming a similar adoption rate among the projected 130 million console installs in 2025, GTA 6 could sell approximately 38 million units in the first twelve months. At an average selling price of $70, this would generate approximately $2.7 billion across both digital and physical channels, representing Take-Two’s projected earnings growth in 2025.”
If game developers are hoping and praying for a $100 or even $80 GTA, it looks like they’ll have to keep dreaming after all.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Her posts can be found on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Have a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
