GTA 6 should cost $80, according to gaming analyst

Grand Theft how much?!

How much should the next Grand Theft Auto cost? One analyst argues that Grand Theft Auto 6 should cost $80, for the good of the video game industry.

"We think it's in Take-Two's self-interest, as a publisher and partner to many developers, to raise the price point for the entire industry," explained Omar Dessouky, a Bank of America securities stock analyst, in response to feedback from the IICON Video Game Conference in Las Vegas. IICON is a new summit for C-suite executives and senior business leaders focused on the interactive entertainment industry.

Dessouky's comments, as reported by Seeking Alpha, come after other IICON attendees claimed they'd have difficulty selling their games for $80 if GTA 6 were cheaper. Dessouky also believes that the gradual increase in the use of AI will "raise the value of games to consumers."

It's a fairly safe bet that GTA 6 will be one of the biggest games of all time — if not the biggest — in terms of sales, scale, and content. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of GTA 6, said recently when talking to Bloomberg that the expectations around the game are "terrifying," following up with "our goal is to deliver to consumers something that's never been experienced before."

"We really do aim to deliver the highest quality entertainment on earth," Zelnick continued. "And that is costly. And AI influence is not withstanding. We haven't seen those costs decline yet. Maybe we will. Maybe we won't." However, Zelnick also said that Take-Two needs to make sure the price tag "feels very reasonable."

If GTA 6 does cost $80, it certainly wouldn't be the first game of this generation to carry a high price point. Nintendo launched Mario Kart World for Switch 2 last year for $79.99, though that game is still an outlier. Microsoft backed down from a $79.99 price tag for The Outer Worlds 2, signaling that not every new game will warrant such a premium price.

It's notable that this rumored $80 price point is considerably lower than the headline-grabbing $100 previously floated. As identified by VGC, however, Take-Two was responsible for the jump to $70 in 2020, when it raised the price of NBA 2K21. Will history repeat itself?

We'll find out soon enough, either through Take-Two interactive's upcoming earnings call or when Grand Theft Auto 6 finally arrives in November.