As Grand Theft Auto (GTA) fans wait eagerly for the GTA 6 launch later this year, its maker Take-Two Interactive is facing fresh debate over how it will price the upcoming game. A Bank of America analyst recently suggested that the company should raise prices beyond current standards. The analyst said that GTA 6 should retail for $80, to help justify the high price point for the “entire industry”. He also linked higher pricing to the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in gaming. The discussion comes as the gaming industry continues to see rising development costs and changing pricing trends.
what Bank of America analyst said about gta 6 pricing
As per a Forbes report, Bank of America analyst Omar Dessouky said the game should be priced at $80 instead of the current $70 standard. “We also heard from attendees that the industry, which is perceived as struggling, would have difficulty selling games for $80 if GTA 6 came out at $70. 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,” Dessouky said.He said a higher price would align with the idea that “AI will raise the value of games to consumers.”However, the use of AI in games remains a debated topic in the industry, with mixed reactions from players and developers.
Take-Two CEO on GTA 6 pricing
During IICON Video Game Conference in Las Vegas recently, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick spoke about GTA 6 pricing but did not confirm a specific price for GTA 6. Zelnick then said “Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way way way less of the value delivery. 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,” he stated. While he did not reveal the exact price, he stated how game prices have decreased over the past couple of years. For reference, major game releases have been priced in the $60 – $70 range for more than a decade.
