The release price of GTA VI next year could be around $80 on certain consoles, due to inflation, a new study has revealed.
Gaming experts at GTA BOOM analyzed the release price of GTA V across the most popular gaming platforms at the time of release, and used this as a benchmark to predict how much the upcoming GTA VI could cost, accounting for inflation rates.
GTA V was initially released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2013 for $59.99, and then re-released for less ($39.99) on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2022.
GTA VI could cost $81 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, which is how much $59.99 would equal after 11 years of purchasing power at an average annual inflation rate of 2.76%. It’s likely the first release would opt for the higher price as per GTA V.
In comparison, GTA VI could cost around $54 for Windows PC, which is how much $39.99 would equal after 11 years in purchasing power with an average annual inflation rate of 2.76%. This is equivalent to GTA V’s lower price due to the likely-delayed release timeline in comparison to consoles.
These predictions are in line with rumors that GTA VI has a budget of $2 billion, which could be reflected in a higher purchase price.
However, industry standard pricing may reduce the price, as other games released by Take-Two – including Grand Theft Auto and Rockstar titles – have been capped at $70.
Speaking on the findings, Matt Gibbs, director of GTA BOOM said: “With prices for the upcoming GTA VI still unconfirmed, it seemed beneficial to conduct an analysis of how much the next releases in the Grand Theft Auto series could cost when taking inflation into account – especially given product prices are rising generally.
“A price increase is likely if the reported budget of around $2 billion for GTA VI is correct, especially when compared to other new games.
“However, recent comments from Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, could change these predictions after he stated his belief that the cost of AAA games should be worked out by ‘per hour value’.
“Considering GTA V can take over 100 hours to fully complete, this approach could become costly for gamers if applied to GTA VI.
“If the release of GTA VI follows the huge success of GTA V in 2013 – which had the best opening week sales in video-game history after earning $1.15 billion in five days – it’s likely that the game will make back its rumored budget in a short amount of time regardless of its release price.”
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