As the gaming world inches closer to the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6, one of the most heated debates isn’t about gameplay or graphics — it’s about the price tag. Bank of America has weighed in on the matter, with analyst Omar Dessouky of BofA Global Research recommending that Take-Two Interactive price the highly anticipated title at $80, a full $10 above the current standard for major releases. The recommendation came after last week’s iicon conference in Las Vegas, where industry insiders and executives gathered to discuss the future of gaming.
Dessouky’s reasoning centers on the broader implications for the industry. According to his assessment, if GTA 6 launches at the standard $70 price point, other publishers would find it nearly impossible to justify charging more for their own titles. In his view, Take-Two has both the leverage and the responsibility to push the price ceiling higher. “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,” Rock Paper Shotgun reported Dessouky as saying. The implication is clear: an $80 GTA 6 would open the door for companies like Nintendo — which already charges $80 for Mario Kart World — to normalize higher pricing across the board.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, however, has been careful not to commit to any specific number. Speaking at the iicon conference, Zelnick emphasized that pricing should reflect the value delivered to consumers, noting that game prices have effectively decreased over the years when adjusted for inflation. “Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way way way less of the value delivery,” IGN reported him as telling the audience. He stressed that players should walk away feeling the price was fair for what they received, rather than focusing on an arbitrary number.
The pricing conversation is complicated by the sheer scale of what GTA 6 represents. The game is widely expected to be the largest entertainment launch in history, with projections of tens of millions of copies sold on day one. Analyst opinions remain divided, with some arguing that Rockstar could comfortably charge as much as $100 depending on how the next iteration of GTA Online is structured, while others believe sticking to $70 would generate maximum goodwill and volume.
Separately, Zelnick addressed the perennial question of a PC release for GTA 6. In comments to Bloomberg, he framed the console-first strategy as a matter of prioritizing the “core consumer,” stating that if those players aren’t served first, reaching other audiences becomes more difficult. However, as Rock Paper Shotgun pointed out, this rationale sits somewhat awkwardly alongside Zelnick’s own admission that PC now accounts for 45 to 50 percent of sales for major titles — a figure that has grown significantly in recent years and suggests the real motivation may be encouraging double-dipping.
With no official price announcement from Rockstar or Take-Two yet, the industry remains in a holding pattern. What is certain is that whatever number appears on the box will send ripples far beyond a single game. GTA 6’s price will effectively set the benchmark for the next generation of major releases, making it as much a business decision for the entire industry as it is for Take-Two alone.