There's no doubt that Rockstar Games' GTA VI is the most anticipated game of 2025. Besides its gameplay and content, many in the industry have wondered how Rockstar will price the triple-A game. Will the company keep it at $70, the standard price for major video games, or will we see another price increase?
A games industry analyst claims that developers are hoping for GTA VI to cost $100 to offset rising development costs and inspire other games to increase prices.
Matthew Ball from Epyllion has published a new report aptly titled, "The State of Video Gaming in 2025." In it, Ball discusses various topics such as the growth of traditional gaming platforms and what upcoming products and tools can act as "growth engines" for the industry.
The final section of the presentation focuses on the potential pricing of GTA VI, and how it might impact decisions from other game developers.
"But some gamemakers hope GTA VI will be priced at $80-100, breaking the $70 barrier and helping $50 titles move up to $60, $60 to do $70, $70 to $80, etc."
There are no direct links to which game developers or publishers are hoping for the price hike, though many have echoed a similar sentiment in the past. However, some may argue that many triple-A games already cost more than $70, as evidenced by the more premium editions of titles.
Rockstar Games has also dabbled in the practice. Red Dead Redemption 2: Ultimate Edition costs $99.99, which includes the base game and special in-game items. The same goes for GTA V, with the game making money post-launch through microtransactions in GTA Online.
"Pricing is always something we're conscious of, and the impact it has on our customers," said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in 2022 (via Gamespot). "Given our economic realities right now, something had to give in terms of us continuing to run the business, with the increased cost basis that we had."
Ball argues that packaged games are the cheapest they've ever been in history, despite the higher budgets. That is true, as video games for the longest time cost $60, sticking to the number consistently since 2009, according to the report, even after adjusting for inflation.
Ball adds that it would be the "cheapest-ever GTA", though Financial Times predicts the game, even at $70, may exceed $3.2 billion in sales by the end of its first year.
It's important to note that Ball's presentation and analysis do not include data from Steam, the largest gaming platform on PC. However, it's true that many game developers are waiting to see how the market reacts to GTA VI, to the extent of holding off announcing the release dates of their projects.
Rockstar Games has yet to announce the pricing and exact release date for Grand Theft Auto VI.
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