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Reece “Kiwi Talks” Reilly shared fair warning to the video game industry in relation to Grand Theft Auto 6.
He shared this statement on Twitter:
So apparently GTA 6 will be priced at $80 at release, there are very few games that I would ever pay that much money for (GTA being 1 of them) especially when there are so many deals on older games on online stores all the time.
GTA 6 will be an event, and no other studio will be able to replicate what they do for 15-20 years and I can guarantee if Rockstar goes down this road the industry will learn the wrong lessons and publishers will start pricing all AAA games like this not realising that Rockstar is an anomaly and they can get away with it.
With the cost of living raging out of control, pricing a game at $80 isnt going to save a studio its going to further contribute to its demise.
Can We Avoid The $ 80 Future?
Last year, Nintendo set the ball rolling by pricing Mario Kart World at $ 80. While the company faced criticism for the move, they hedged their bets to the benefit of their closest followers.
They launched the Switch 2 with a bundle that included a copy of Mario Kart World. With this bundle, early adopters really only paid $ 50 for the game.
This move guaranteed high launch sales for the console. The bundle has been discontinued, though we would not rule out Nintendo bringing it back in the future.
Microsoft backed down on pricing The Outer Worlds 2 at $ 80, agreeing to settle down to $ 70. Other AAAs followed suit on the $ 70 price point until the end of 2025.
Will Video Game Hardware Prices Also Go Up?
We have been seeing rumors spread that computing components, such as RAM, SSDs, and GPUs, are set to increase in price this year. PC retailer PowerGPU alerted their customers that these price increases are real, and will trickle down to consumers in time.
If the industry moves forward in this direction, they may end up pricing out part of their existing customer base. And this may also become a problem when it comes to trying to entice new generations into video games.
Some gamers may be overconfident that game consoles will be unaffected. It’s worth remembering that consoles are themselves specialized PCs, and supply components from the same companies as well.
It’s a double bind for game studios themselves, as they may not sell enough copies to justify the $ 60 asking price. If they can make enough from their most hardcore followers, going to $ 80 may become a necessity.
At least for now, the issue of raising game prices has not been decided. Maybe Rockstar will decide to hedge their bet like Nintendo did last year and give fans a path to buy Grand Theft Auto 6 cheaper.
