Why ‘Grand Theft Auto 6’ Price Point Matters So Much – Variety

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Kaare Eriksen
Media Analyst
Many in the video game industry hope the upcoming release of “Grand Theft Auto 6” will rejuvenate consumer spend and investor interest in AAA games. 
But one specific point of interest has to do with the sandbox live service’s base price, which many anticipate will be as high as $100, well above the current standard $70 standard. “GTA 6” still lacks a confirmed price, as well as an exact release date for its expected fall 2025 window. 
The price speculation is far from surprising. In fact, it’s long overdue. 
The average price of new games has consistently failed to keep up with U.S. inflation. Major publishers and developers alike have had to get by with game prices getting cheaper for consumers even as development costs on AAA skyrocket.  

When adjusted for inflation, new Super Nintendo games in 1990 cost twice as much the current $70 standard for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series games. By the same metric, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles were the closest any system has come to seeing a $100 point of entry for new games after 2000. 
Less than five years after PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series launched, increasing new AAA title prices by $10, inflation dictates such games would need to cost $86 just to match that 2020 spend. That’s a challenging prospect, given how subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus have made it possible to simply wait for numerous games to become free to play, or at least heavily discounted.
If gamers are already used to reserving $70 for titles they feel most passionate about playing at launch and saving money on everything else, dialing up the price in accordance with inflation is a big gamble. 
The need to charge more for flashy new titles is especially prevalent in consoles, the gaming sector that has seen the least revenue growth, compared with PC and the market-leading mobile sector. By 2027, Newzoo estimates console revenue will have increased just 40% from 2015 versus 100% for PC and mobile more than doubling its revenue. 
But onward from 2021’s peak in gaming revenue, Newzoo predicts console and PC will lead in revenue growth over mobile, and it’s hard to see that move happening without price increases for top games, especially when Nintendo Switch 2 — successor to the No. 3 bestselling console ever — is around the corner. Nintendo’s follow-up to the Switch will likely remain a cheaper hardware option than current PlayStation 5 and Xbox systems. 
Nintendo’s embrace of a lower upfront cost for games on its Wii console proved crucial for competing with Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2006, when games for the latter two consoles cost $10 more on average. Then 2012’s Wii U brought new games up to that standard, but the Wii U sold poorly, prompting the Nintendo Switch release in 2017.  
While the Switch did bring new game prices up to the $60 standard at the time, the lower hardware cost and handheld duality made it the success it is today, providing a cheaper console alternative to the more expensive brands.  
If new game prices for Switch 2 stay the same as the other console brands potentially raise theirs past $70, that could make it substantially difficult for PlayStation or Xbox to take a cue from whatever “GTA 6” ends up costing. After all, PlayStation’s 2024 launch for “Concord,” a new live service that cost $40 upfront, was a disaster, prompting the game’s shutdown less than two weeks later.  
“GTA,” of course, is an unfair comparison to “Concord,” as 2013’s “GTA V” remains one of the biggest live services, having sold more than 200 million copies and sporting well over $8 billion in revenue over its lifetime. Even before its live-service success, the franchise has long been celebrated for its innovative and huge single-player story campaigns, and in that regard “GTA 6” will not deviate from offering players the best of both worlds. 
Many in the gaming space predict “GTA 6” could usher in a higher upfront price than the current $70 standard for new AAA titles. Still, when newer PlayStation exclusives come with budgets as high as Hollywood’s biggest tentpoles, the need for a signature franchise such as “GTA” to jump the gun and raise upfront costs for consumers is more than understandable.  The Business of Entertainment

Source: https://variety.com/vip/grand-theft-auto-6-aaa-video-game-price-point-matters-1236340521/