Grand Theft Auto 6 is set to arrive in fall 2025, but with no confirmed release date, pre-order details for the game are not available yet. The lack of clarity around pricing and intense anticipation for the game has led to speculation about GTA 6 potentially breaking the $70 price barrier for games. An analyst recently said that some developers were expecting GTA 6 to be priced between $80 and $100. Responding to the claim, several other analysts have now said that the game is unlikely to be priced in that range.
GTA 6 is unlikely to cost $100
ign contacted to game industry analysts on possible GTA 6 pricing, all of whom reportedly said that Rockstar Games will keep pricing at the usual $70 for the base game. Some also claimed that some game publishers had already breached the $100 mark, offering early access and other benefits for a premium.
Midea’s Rhys Elliott told IGN, “Most huge AAA games already charge $100 (sometimes more) in the first 3-7 days before launch, but they sell it for ‘Early Access’ and slap ‘collectors.’ ‘Version’ in the name.” “Publishers have hijacked collector’s editions as a way to charge more for ‘early access’ – aka late access for consumers who aren’t willing to pay the markup.”
The analyst said that asking $100 without offering perks like early access would be a “bridge too far” for GTA 6 as well.
“They will find success either way. Elliott said that GTA 6 is going to be a cultural phenomenon and can bear the $100 price point, but player backlash will be significant, and it will be a short-term benefit at a long-term cost. He said that GTA 6, like its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto 5, will bank on its online component to generate consistent revenue.
“One of the major challenges for GTA 6 is convincing players to jump ship from the online component of GTA 5, so creating an unnecessarily high switching cost would not be wise here,” he said.
James McWhirter, senior games analyst at Omdia, echoed the same sentiment. “GTA Online was critical to the ongoing success of GTA 5, driving premium sales and subscription service licensing; A precedent take-two is unlikely to be interrupted with the launch of GTA 6,” he was quoted as saying in the IGN report.
MAT PISCATELLA, CIRCANA analyst, also shared his opinion about GTA 6 possibly being priced in the $80 to $100 range in a post on Bluesky last week. He stated that there was “no need” to increase the price of the base game when the same could be done through other versions of the game.
“You want to make the funnel as broad as possible, while also optimizing launch $. You don’t do that by making the base price of a game so high that the funnel gets narrow,” he said. Post,
The discussion was fueled by possible higher pricing for GTA 6 publication “The State of Video Gaming in 2025” presentation by analyst Matthew Ball earlier this month.
In his presentation, the analyst claimed that some game developers were hoping that GTA 6 would be priced within the $80 to $100 range, thus breaking the $70 barrier for the title. According to him, this price shift will help $50 titles to go up to $60, $60 games to go up to $70, and $70 triple-A releases to start testing the $80 mark. Modern triple-A releases from platform holders like Sony and Microsoft and big publishers like Activision, EA, and others are typically priced around the $70 mark in the current console generation, breaking the long-held $60 barrier. Breaks.
