Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick recently dodged one of the most predictable questions in gaming journalism: How much will GTA 6 cost? The game, currently expected May 2026, is still far from launch. Asking for a number now is a wasted question. No CEO would casually drop that kind of information this early, especially not with a project of this scale.
Pricing a game this far out would be irresponsible. The economy alone makes it impossible to predict. Most companies can barely see two months ahead with confidence, let alone two years. When GTA 6’s marketing machine kicks in, that’s when we’ll get a price tag. It won’t be a random number. It will be calculated to fit market conditions, industry trends, and whatever regulations might be in place. Laws targeting mature-rated games, especially ones “protecting the children,” could still reshape that window.
GTA 6 Is Not the Standard
Let’s get one thing straight: GTA 6 is not the game to use as an industry pricing benchmark. Even if Rockstar launched it at $100, that doesn’t give the rest of the industry permission to follow suit.
Why? For one, GTA 6 is riding on assumptions. Assumptions that it will be as good, or better, than GTA 5. Assumptions are not facts. Rockstar could price it at $20 and still walk away with record-breaking revenue, thanks to GTA Online.
The Online Factor: Two Games or One?
One unanswered question is whether GTA 5 Online and GTA 6 will share space or if Rockstar will pull the plug on the old version. It’s entirely possible some players will prefer GTA 5’s map to GTA 6’s.
Los Santos, the setting for GTA 5, is a sprawling, sun-soaked parody of Los Angeles and Southern California. It’s all freeways, celebrity mansions, and a dense urban core ringed by desert and mountains. Perfect for chaotic chases that can start in the city and end in a military base. The variety in biomes means you can go from jet skiing to snowcapped hiking in the same afternoon.
GTA 6’s Vice City, on the other hand, is Rockstar’s neon-and-palm-tree vision of Miami. It’s all about humid nights, art deco hotels, pastel-colored beach fronts, and a swampy backcountry. Vice City offers a completely different atmosphere. Faster boats, swamp skirmishes, and high-speed chases down beachfront roads instead of multilane freeways. But it’s flatter, smaller in elevation, and less varied in terrain than Los Santos. For some players, that tradeoff will be worth it. For others, it’s not the world they want to spend hundreds of hours in.
A Two-Platform Payday
There’s another reason GTA 6’s pricing can’t be treated like a normal release. It’s starting on PlayStation only. The PC version will arrive later, creating a second wave of sales and microtransaction spending.
I know players who will buy GTA 6 on PlayStation just to play on day one, then buy it again on PC when it releases there. The PC launch is when they’ll really dive in. Better hardware, better graphics, deeper immersion. That’s when the spending starts on Shark Cards.
That’s two full purchases from one player, not counting premium editions or in-game currency. Multiply that by the millions who play across platforms, and the game becomes a printing press. Much like The Sims, designed for long-term play and monetization.
Price Hype vs. Reality
The gaming community has latched onto the idea that GTA 6 could cost $100 for its base version. While that would break new ground for a standard edition, the reality is more likely $70–$80, with higher-tier editions pushing the $100 mark. Zelnick has been clear that Take-Two’s strategy is about “delivering more value than we charge” and avoiding reputational damage by going too far.
Special editions? Sure, they’ll cost more. But a $100 base price risks alienating even the most loyal fans. Especially when Rockstar’s revenue model thrives on keeping players in the ecosystem long-term.
The Bigger Picture
The greed to raise prices is wearing thin on gamers. While GTA 6 is big enough to survive almost any backlash, most other games are not. The smart move isn’t to jack up the price. It’s to sell more copies at a reasonable cost and let GTA Online do what it’s built to do: generate income for years.
GTA 6’s price matters less than the industry conversation it sparks. Treating it as a pricing template would be a mistake. Most studios don’t have a game that can be played for a decade and still be in the top 10 sales charts. Rockstar does, but that’s the exception, not the rule.
The right price for GTA 6 is whatever maximizes its long-term player base, not whatever headline-grabbing number analysts want to predict. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
