Why one analyst says the game is underpriced
Speaking on TBPN, Thompson said he believed Rockstar was being too modest with the price.
“I think Rockstar is charging way too little for this game,” he said. “They should be charging like $200 (£149) for this game.”
Thompson described GTA 6 as “the last great game,” pointing to the fact that most of it was developed before generative AI became a major industry obsession. In his view, that makes the project a kind of monument to traditional blockbuster game development.
“It was mostly all made pre-AI. It is the pinnacle of triple-A craftsmanship,” he said. “Years and years and years of blood, sweat, and tears. To the extent where you have the Twitter analysts like, counting cigarette butts outside Rockstar’s offices to see how much crunch they’re in right now.”
His point was made with some clear tongue-in-cheek energy, but his argument still had a serious core: GTA 6 is expected to be one of the biggest entertainment launches in years, and Rockstar probably could charge more if it wanted to test players’ patience in a laboratory setting.
The argument for keeping the entry price lower
Thompson went further, saying the game’s mere existence made him feel obligated to buy it.
“I feel compelled to buy GTA 6, just in honour of it existing. Even if I don’t know if I’m ever going to play it. I’d be happy to pay $200. $80 is ridiculous. They should charge more.”
That is not exactly the message most players want delivered to a publisher. The wider games business is already under scrutiny for higher prices, premium editions, battle passes, cosmetic stores, and microtransactions that can make a full-price game feel less like a purchase and more like a cover charge.
There is also a practical reason Rockstar may not want to make the base game unusually expensive. A lower entry price means more players inside the ecosystem. For a series like Grand Theft Auto, where online play and post-launch spending are hugely important, getting more players in the door may matter more than squeezing out the highest upfront price.
In other words, Rockstar does not need to make not every pound at checkout. It has other tills.
What Take-Two has said about value
Take-Two Interactive chief executive Strauss Zelnick addressed the game’s price earlier this year, saying the company wanted the game to feel reasonably priced for consumers.
“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.
He added: “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.”
That matters because GTA 6 is not just another release on the calendar. It is a cultural event with a huge marketing shadow, arriving more than a decade after Grand Theft Auto 5. If players think the price is fair, the conversation stays focused on the game. If they feel ripped off, that becomes part of the launch story too.
For now, Rockstar appears to be choosing the safer route: premium pricing, but not shock pricing. GTA 6 is scheduled to launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19, 2026.
