Itâs only been about two years or so since the video game industry began charging $70 for big games instead of the usual $60, due to game development costs increasing (and greed). This shift, understandably, didnât go over well with players as the cost to stay up-to-date with modern gaming continues to rise, but that might not stop Take-Two Interactive (the parent company of Rockstar Games) from trying to push it further with Grand Theft Auto VIâone of the few upcoming games that could probably sell for $80.
In 2022, the era of $70 video games began. Since then weâve seen WB Games, Activision, Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation, and other companies begin selling their biggest, fanciest games for $10 more than the $60 price tag that had been in place for years. The reaction to these increased prices wasnât great, but games like Call of Duty and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sold well even with the higher price tag. And in Take-Twoâs latest earnings call, CEO Strauss Zelnick seemed to set the groundwork for prices going up.
As reported by Gamespot, when Zelnick was asked about how Take-Two decides what to charge for games like Grand Theft Auto VI and Borderlands, he didnât provide any specific prices and instead shared the publisherâs pricing philosophy.
âLook, thereâs more content constantly being made available, and we really aim to deliver great value at any given time,â said Zelnick. âWeâre so focused on delivering more value than what we charge. And thatâs sort of the rubric.â
He further added that whenever Take-Two establishes a gameâs price, the company wants to make sure that itâs âgood newsâ for players and that âthe experience vastly over deliversâ compared to the price point. â Thatâs the goal,â added Zelnick.
If we look back at recent comments from Zelnick, I have some serious questions about what he considers good news and good value for consumers.
Zelnickâs thoughts on good value and $70 games
In August 2023, when fans criticized Take-Two for charging $50 for the nice, but bare-bones Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare PS4 and Switch ports, this was Zelnickâs response:
âThatâs just what we believe is the commercially accurate price for it,â Zelnick told IGN after an earnings call.
â[Red Dead Redemption] was a great standalone game in its own right when it was originally released, so we feel like itâs a great bundle for the first time, and certainly a great value for consumers.â Iâd argue that $50 is not an âaccurate priceâ for a basic port of a decade-plus old open-world Xbox 360 game that, at launch at least, didnât support 60FPS and removed all the online multiplayer modes.
In May 2023, Zelnick also indicated that there wasnât any consumer pushback on publishers charging $70 instead of $60 on some big games, like Gotham Knights
âWhat weâre seeing is consumers are seeking to limit their spending by going either to the stuff they really, really care about, blockbusters, or to value, and sometimes it could be both,â said Zelnick.âAnd the good news is, we have a bunch of blockbusters and we have a wonderful catalog.â
All of this seems to suggest that Zelnick believes $70 games work, consumers donât mind them, ports are worth $50, and people will buy your blockbuster games if they are really excited about them, even if they have to manage their money. That makes me wonder what Grand Theft Auto 6âČs price will end up being when it launches in 2025.
If any game can charge $80 (or more) itâs GTA 6
Looking back at all his comments and Take-Twoâs recent history makes me wonder: Will Zelnick decide that GTA 6 is worth more than $70?
Will he look at one of the most hyped games in human history, the sequel to one of the best-selling video games of all time, and a blockbuster open-world adventure that will likely be massive, and think âOh players will pay $80 or even $90 for that!â I think thatâs a real possibility and if it happens, Iâd bet my next lunch that heâd explain on an earnings call that fans are getting a âgreat valueâ for that $80.
Sure, it seems silly or even downright idiotic in 2024 or 2025 to charge more than $70. Weâve seen countless examples over the last 18 months or so of big, expensive games failing to connect with players, critics, and fandoms, while smaller indie titles charging less are exploding in popularity. I mean, one of the biggest games in 2024 is Helldivers 2 and it sports a $40 price tag. In just the last few months, Manor Lords, Gray Zone Warfare, and Content Warning have found big success on Steam and they all cost far less than $70.
But Grand Theft Auto 6 is different. Itâs the next entry in one of the biggest video game franchises on the planet, will likely have a massive marketing push, and is the follow-up to GTA V and GTA Online, some of the most lucrative pieces of entertainment in history.
It also has an almost impossible amount of hype surrounding it, with players and fans going feral over tiny updates to Rockstarâs back-end servers. These same people make theories based on birds in teaser images andtrack down every piece of cut GTA content they can find using all sorts of methods. These are fans who, if asked, would likely buy GTA 6 at $80. And I think there are plenty of other people out there who would quickly toss $80 to Rockstar and Take-Two if it meant they could play what will likely be the biggest video game release in 2025.
So really, at this point, the only thing stopping Take-Two from charging more than $70 (and offering consumers so much âgreat valueâ) is Zelnick and other executives looking at all this and deciding to not be greedy. And folks, Iâm not holding my breath, especially as games cost more and more to make and take longer and longer to create. I think if Zelnick and Take-Two believe GTA 6 can succeed at $80 theyâll charge that and sell you a special edition for even more.
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