Summary
It’s no secret thatmodern Triple-A video games cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce. In turn, publishers and developers hope massive sales can help offset their large investments, but that’s not always the case.Video games do inevitably bomb and lose money, resulting in layoffs, studio closures andshut down video games.
The solution, at least in the interim, has been to raise theprice of video games from $59.99 to $69.99. The $10 increase aims to not onlyhelp recoup costs in a more expensive market, but also reflect the value change in modern gaming, with its higher graphics and longer runtimes.
But while consumers are just starting to get used to the new normal of $70 video games,Rockstar Games' parent company, Take-Two,hasn’t ruled out a second price increase.
Take-Two Dedicated To Delivering ‘Great Value’
As spotted byKotaku, in a recent earnings call, CEO of Take-Two Strauss Zelnick offered his thoughts when asked about price increases, particularly as it relates to Take-Two’s own products, includingGrand Theft Auto.
“Look, there’s more content constantly being made available, and we really aim to deliver great value at any given time,” Zelnick said. “We’re so focused on delivering more value than what we charge. And that’s sort of the rubric.”
Zelnick added that, when Take-Two does establish a price, they want to ensure that “it’s good news for the consumer.” More so, the goal would be for the experience, AKA the game, to “vastly overdeliver in the context of the cost.” As Zelnick succinctly put it, “That’s the goal.”
In other words, Take-Two will take into consideration the amount of content being made available in its next video games when determining a new price. More so, whatever that price may be, the game will “overdeliver” compared to what a consumer paid upfront. It’s likely that Zelnick is referencing Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6,which recently received a Fall 2025 launch window.
This Wouldn’t Be Take-Two’s First Dip Into Price Increases
Already, fans have had to contend with a price increase for GTA+, Rockstar’s all-encompassing subscription service for avid GTA Online players.The cost went from $5.99 a month to $7.99, its first price increase since launching in 2022.
The GTA+ subscription provides players with a suite of in-game related items and rewards for GTA Online. Recently, the subscription has emulated other company-specific plans, like EA Play, by offering older games from Rockstar’s catalog, like the Grand Theft Auto titles.It will also add L.A. Noire and Bully in the near future, making the subscription a bit more than just cosmetics.
Still, it represents a different turn for Take-Two and follows some other recent movements. When a remastered version ofRed Dead Redemptionlaunched on PS4 and Nintendo Switch last year, it retailed at $49.99. The game launched lacking 60 FPS,though it was stealthily added later, and with no online functionality.
And before that, there was the entire fiasco surrounding the release of the Grand Theft Auto Definitive Edition trilogy. It launched at a $59.99 price point,and its games were a buggy mess for months on end.
So, while games like Red Dead Redemption 2 are worth more than their base price, the gaming giant as a whole doesn’t have the best record when it comes to pricing its offerings. With Grand Theft Auto 6 seemingly being the first game to challenge the modern $70 pricetag, gamers will have to wait and see if Zelnick’s word on “overdelivering” on value comes to fruition.
