People are still asking Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick about how much Grand Theft Auto VI will cost, and he’s still responding elusively to avoid saying an exact price.
Both of these tactics are understandable. Zelnick is not going to say nor hint at how much GTA 6 is going to be until the price is formally revealed. But anyone interviewing him looks ridiculous if they don’t ask. So here we are.
IGN was present at iicon and reported on Zelnick’s response to a question about GTA 6 pricing during an on-stage interview. As expected, Zelnick stayed far away from confirming or denying fears that GTA 6 will be priced significantly higher than other games. He instead reiterated that Rockstar and Take-Two’s job is to make sure customers feel like they’re getting something more than worth whatever they’re asked to pay for it. Otherwise, you know, they just won’t buy it.
“Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way way way less of the value delivery,” Zelnick said. “How you feel about something you buy is the intersection of the thing itself and what you pay for. Consumers need to feel like the thing itself is amazing and the price they were charged was fair for what they got.”
Zelnick then apparently notes that old chestnut that games have gotten cheaper over time relative to inflation and the rest of the economy, an observation that is technically true but still feels bad to people who already can’t afford a lot of other things and are struggling with whether or not to buy an $80 video game.
“If you look at it through that lens, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But that isn’t the lens through which we look. Instead, we look at…how do we deliver something amazing, and how do we make sure that what people pay for it feels very reasonable.”
It’s hard to glean anything in particular from what Zelnick is saying here, to be honest. He’s basically just saying that the company is doing its homework to make sure that whatever it charges for GTA 6, it needs to be an amount of money that customers will feel is fair for what they’re getting. Which is…just basic economics, I guess? You could read it as him saying they won’t overcharge into the $90, $100 range for the game. Or you could read it as they will charge that much, but GTA 6 will be so grand that people will feel it’s worth it.
Zelnick certainly seems to be aiming to sell a game that’s worth more in entertainment value than any other video game ever: “What we think about is making the most spectacular piece of entertainment on Earth, in history—and it’s a pretty daunting challenge,” he concluded.
Does that mean GTA 6 will also be the most expensive piece of entertainment in history? We don’t know! Some are speculating it might at least be the most expensive video game. Mario Kart World last year already paved the way for other games to cost $80 at least, and researchers and analysts seem to be divided over whether or not charging any more than that is a smart idea for Take-Two. We’re unlikely to know one way or another until at least this summer, when marketing is expected to spin up for the open-world adventure ahead of its November 16, 2026 release date.
