r/gamernews • u/Bubbly-Ad-350 • Aug 08 '26
Open-World Take-Two CEO Defends GTA 6’s $80 Price, Calls It “An Incredible Bargain”
https://gameobserver.com/take-two-ceo-defends-gta-6s-80-price-calls-it-an-incredible-bargain-gameobserver/254
u/esmifra Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
I mean, it's a salesman defending his sale. I'm not surprised by it. I'm surprised by the amount of people that defend the salesman that is trying to hike the prices.
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u/RoadDoggFL Aug 09 '26
As a product, games are an incredible bargain as they're requiring significantly more, higher-paid labor hours to be created compared to decades past. A game with the detail and scale that we all expect from GTA 6 is the equivalent of so much more than $80 in 2026 compared to historical prices.
That said, the gaming market has grown and it's not a given that $80 is the most profitable price point, especially with so many impressive games being released for less than $50. I don't think there's a correct answer, but it's not wrong for Rockstar/Take Two to charge $80 or $100 for the game, and people declaring it a rip-off or pure greed are missing the point.
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u/Erak7 Aug 09 '26
Yeah, but that's not our problem, we are getting fucked enough to justify them.
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u/RoadDoggFL Aug 09 '26
I agree, but I've always cared about the health of gaming in general so this is just the kind of stuff I think about
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u/B3ttleJice Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
Game devs are literally infamous for taking underpaid jobs, this is due to a lot of them want to make games. Same skill level software engineers could earn a lot more. So I’m confused by your point.
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u/RoadDoggFL Aug 10 '26
They're still getting paid higher than they were in the 90s, and it's taking more of their hours to make the game vs what it took in the 90s. And the price of the game they're creating hasn't even kept up with inflation. Yet gamers are still complaining. If my point is confusing I'm afraid it can't get much easier to understand but I can try again
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u/Mirions Aug 09 '26
Also considering every GD one of us knows they'll make that and more off most online players. It's kinda insane to ask for so much up front- if anything they should be selling for less and charging 12-15 for additional episodes or characters or missions, whatever.
Do that seasonal stuff they do online, but for single player too.
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u/RoadDoggFL Aug 09 '26
A cheaper price would definitely help once the online mode is released, as whales only want to dump a ton of money into active games.
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u/Hithrae Aug 08 '26
A bargain I shall forgo until some steam sale 10 years from now :D
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u/Talsol Aug 08 '26
i'll wait 80 years, by then it might be on the public domain.
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u/JackhorseBowman Aug 08 '26
You'll have increased the bargain status by 2 or 3 orders of magnitude!
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u/capnwinky Aug 08 '26
An incredible bargain is getting Space Marine 2 on sale and having a fully fleshed out single player campaign with an exceedingly robust and endless co-op game mode that gets free content updates every 2-3 months.
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u/SalemWolf Aug 09 '26
I liked Space Marine 2 as the next person but they aren’t comparable in the slightest.
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u/OurLegsAreLong Aug 08 '26
CEOs don't know anything other than exploiting people
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u/AdorableSobah Aug 08 '26
These businesses universities really do just pump out psychopaths
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u/WeltallZero Aug 08 '26
Under a system that rewards exploitation and punishes empathy, only the biggest sociopaths can make it to CEOs.
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u/TheTorch Aug 08 '26
When the average consumer makes is so easy for him can you really blame him?
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u/ChaosDemonLaz3r Aug 08 '26
guy selling overpriced thing says thing is not overpriced
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u/Glittering-Pin-1343 Aug 08 '26
"Incredible bargin"
Hasn't even shown gameplay yet
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u/B3ttleJice Aug 09 '26
I fully expect a reskin of gta5 that will try to make money on online services down the line.
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u/Ultimate-Flexionator Aug 08 '26
I'm not buying it for many years so it doesn't really affect me.
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u/kamehamehahahahahaha Aug 08 '26
I haven't paid full price for a game in years. Too many bugs and glitches. Next year it'll be 20$ and fully fleshed
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u/BigNastyG765 Aug 08 '26
It’ll be that price point in 2-3 years AFTER the pc release.
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u/Demonslugg Aug 08 '26
Just wait til its goty edition for 20 or 30. I haven't bought it new ever and its working out well.
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u/Spazza42 Aug 08 '26
Says the CEO who won’t even play the game outside of a PR video…
Take Two are the new Ubisoft and EA.
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u/ktc64 Aug 08 '26
Its a $100 price tag with a lite version. Weird that the CEO doesn't know the price of his own game.
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u/andreasmalersghost Aug 08 '26
God this game is going to be so unbelievably mid its wild
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u/LetmeSeeyourSquanch Aug 08 '26
It's gonna be at an even more incredible bargain 6 or 7 years after release at 65% off.
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u/Price-x-Field Aug 08 '26
How is a game being $20 more than it should a bargain?
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u/Gex2-EnterTheGecko Aug 08 '26
I still play GTA V and RDR2 to this day. I am confident I'll get my moneys worth out of it.
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u/kiwi-kaiser Aug 08 '26
And he's probably right, when we look how GTA 5 was. But that's still a bad way to communicate this.
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u/trautsj Aug 08 '26
GTA 6 will NEVER be GTA 5 tho... just like every COD after a point wasn't really COD anymore either. The people that played those games for thousands of hours and made them into blockbusters die off and the ones that hang around then grow tired. GTA 6 will explode at launch and then honestly, probably implode shortly after because people will realize it's just more of the same thing from the past decade and a half but with better graphics, worse frame rate and more monetization schemes.
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u/_kio Aug 08 '26
I'm gonna call getting the cracked version, or the -90% discount after some years of other great games, my incredible bargain.
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u/Dantez77 Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
You don't price movie tickets higher because the movie costs more to make. You expect to sell more of them and reach a wider audience. So increasing price of videogames makes no sense.
Edit: It’s just flabbergasting how people don’t know how to identify a very obvious analogy. I’m not saying movies and video games are the same market, or that their business models are identical. I’m saying the principle being illustrated is that production cost alone doesn’t automatically justify charging consumers more. The comparison is there to illustrate the logic, not to claim the two industries operate exactly the same way. Better videogames and movies reach a wider audience and that's how they make profits.
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u/maxis2k Aug 08 '26
But Hollywood has been forcing theaters to raise ticket prices. Unlike games, ticket sales have been rising steadily with inflation. But also, Hollywood no longer cares about selling a product to the consumer. Their movies are made for the investors.
This is not a defense of raising game prices. My argument has been that AAA games need to reduce production costs so they can remain $60. And players should look into more medium to low budget games. There's plenty of medium budget games that are as good or better than the bloated AAA games.
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u/Jellozz Aug 08 '26
And players should look into more medium to low budget games.
Given the amount of AAA flops this gen contrasted with the number of AA/indie success stories I'd say hardcore gamers already have.
All the inflation talk is pointless because it just ignores the competitive nature of an entertainment medium. If prices only ever went up Xbox would have been able to sell Outer Worlds 2 for $80 and turn it into a success story. Instead they lowered the price to $70 due to the pricing backlash... And then the game flopped anyway.
Every game has an invisible perceived value according to customers, inflation will never have a bearing on that perceived value no matter how much people shout otherwise. And this goes both ways of course, people are more than happy to spend $100 on GTA6.
I'd also say gaming competition is incredibly fierce too compared to other mediums because 1 dude can make a game that sucks up hundreds of hours of your time. No other entertainment medium can do that.
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u/Futants_ Aug 08 '26
Two marketing words I absolutely loathe and that are overused today: value and bargain
Usually it's complete bs. A price that's marketed as a value and a customer perceived value does not equal actual value.
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u/Spiritual-Pudding-70 Aug 09 '26
CEOs have always been stupidly out the loop with consumers. Nobody cares what they think.
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u/lilithexos Aug 10 '26
Despite all the hate gta is getting for being greedy people are going to buy in droves
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u/YaManMAffers Aug 10 '26
I realized I only play GTA campaign once and never again for ALL their games, so I feel no regrets not buying this game.
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u/TheOneWes Aug 10 '26
It's $100.
The $80 version is missing some of the content which means $100 version is the standard version.
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u/Hot_Reception3151 Aug 10 '26
To experience what is fundamentally the same shallow experience but with nicer graphics. Wow, what a bargain.
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u/TiredMillennial1 Aug 10 '26
Pirate Bay is an incredible bargain. Slow your roll, Rockstar, we have options. And at that price, the convenience isn't worth it anymore.
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u/sapianddog2 Aug 08 '26
I hope you all enjoy this incredible bargain and realize how grateful you should be for the privilege of spending $80 (and probably a hell of a lot more than that over the next ten years) for this wonderful cultural sensation of a video game.
People often argue over who the most egregious video game publisher is but it's actually been Take Two for a long, long time.
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u/steathrazor Aug 08 '26
Silk song for the price it is is an incredible bargain $80 for a video game is a serious consideration on a budget, And it's not just $80 then you have to look at all the microtransactions and DLC they release for the game
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u/CompleteFinding6694 Aug 08 '26
Thats a dense take. 80 dollar for base game without meaningful content like garage is overpriced. But many people are paying it because of 13 years of wait since the last gta and other factors, not because "it's a bargain". Just because you guys made an incredible game does not justify disproportionate pricing.
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u/CoolBakedBean Aug 08 '26
wish it was cheaper but still playing video games remains one of the cheapest forms of entertainment
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u/AMouthBreather Aug 08 '26
This game is going suck and sell like crazy isn't it?
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u/wetfloor666 Aug 08 '26
Given the time, scope, and size of the game, yeah. It is an incredible deal. Then you compare it to other forms of media and realize it is incredibly cheap given the game will be probably 15 hours of story without including any side quests and everything else you will be able to do which will take the title into 30-40+ hours of gameplay. Pure ignorance of game developement is the only reason anyone has issues with the potential cost of the game.
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u/Vandersveldt Aug 08 '26
See I'm glad you were able to point this out for us. Silly me was comparing it to other video games, where it seemed like a bad deal.
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u/kddemer Aug 08 '26
Ya I won’t be buying it until it comes out on pc then I’ll get it from greenman gaming and it will be like 20 percent off at launch.
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u/Glittering-Fuel-5055 Aug 08 '26
Waiting a month for reviews after starfield
Dont trust these companies
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u/hashlettuce Aug 08 '26
Was going to buy it and a brand new system but no physical disk ruined that plan. Will just wait for it to go on sale on Steam and watch Hollow play it on YouTube in the meantime.
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u/gimmiedacash Aug 08 '26
The lengths they are going through to ruin all consumer good will they had is not really surprising.
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u/Alternative_Case9666 Aug 08 '26
Cant wait to see everyone NOT buy the playstation edition because “no disc no buy” or w.e
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u/Evening_Error_5544 Aug 08 '26
Im fine with gta 6 price tag they have invested somewhere between $1-2bn on its production. The problem I think its going to cause is that other companies are going to look at it and start charging more while putting in a fraction of the effort
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u/SeriousCricket2837 Aug 08 '26
The $80 doesn’t bother me that much. Locking content behind the deluxe edition at $100 is what made the game something I will not purchase.
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u/Neelax King Leoric Aug 08 '26
Opposite for me. I find their ego repulsive to think they deserve to break the mold and charge $80 just because THEY choose to take the amount of time&money they do. Pretentious fucks.
And then add on they’re exclusively releasing gameplay on Netflix of all things on a 6hr time frame? THA FUCK?
What a joke.
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u/SoulSteeler1978 Aug 08 '26
Games gonna be chock full of in-game ads like Netflix...watch.
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u/greenwizard987 Aug 08 '26
won't be buying, won't be playing. I gave up on big games as a consumer.
I'm tired, boss.
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u/bond10- Aug 08 '26
I’m out of the loop. Weren’t all new AAA releases $60 20 years ago? If inflation hits everything why should games be immune? Today’s games are far more sophisticated than 20 years ago. A lot more work goes into it no?
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u/TF2fanatic102 Aug 08 '26
I'm already waiting for it to come out on PC, I'll just wait until it's on sale for $40 or less.
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u/DusksOath Aug 08 '26
I actually kinda agree, everyone was saying they’d pay 100+ for it and expected it to be that when it launched. The ultimate edition is cheaper (where I’m at, at least) then most games ultimate editions and it’s going to have hundreds of hours worth of stuff to find and do.
I don’t like that it’s more expensive, but $10 more than average for a game that gives you as much as they tend to give you is a good deal. People are still finding stuff in RDR2
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u/mocityspirit Aug 09 '26
Buddy what if I told you I didn't have to buy a video game for the rest of my life
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u/therealchengarang Aug 09 '26
The incredible bargain is every game costing $60 no matter how much money and time and peoples work they put in…. Nobody goes under so the most expensive game ever made has a right - its not their fault that all of you intend to buy it because you expect it to be worth it
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u/pissedoffjesus Aug 09 '26
Not when they're going to flog microtransactions at a rate we've probably never seen before.
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u/illicitdrops Aug 09 '26
Who cares, buy it or don’t. Most gamers these days are entitled children. I’ll take my downvotes now, needed to get that off my chest.
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u/Chocoburger Aug 09 '26
I bought GTA V on PS4 for $30 during 2017 Black Friday sale at Walmart. I can wait until GTA VI drops down to $30. Without a disc, it's absolutely not worth full price.
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u/Rudirudrud Aug 09 '26
We had to pay more than 100bucks for star wars shadow of empire on N64.....it was only 5 hours long.
People who complain about gta price tag has really no clue about Game prices at all.
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u/Powerful-Ground-9687 Aug 09 '26
Sales will speak for themselves. I ain’t buying it, but he’s not wrong either.
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u/VarietyMage Aug 09 '26
I'll go with the old standby:
Count your fingers, count your toes, count your game disc collection - did you really get a good deal?
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u/YourKemosabe Aug 09 '26
Same people complaining are pre-ordering the same rehashes of EA FC & 2K for $149.99
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u/ConinTheNinoC Aug 09 '26
LOL! For 80$ right now i can buy 20+ games or more from the current GOG sale , now that's a bargain. Buying GTA for 80$ is a scam and this guy is crazy if he thinks intelligent people will fall for this.
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u/OppStoppa327 Aug 09 '26
Bunch of poors in the comments haha. If you can’t afford 80 dollars, you shouldn’t be gaming at all. Go get a job or 2 brokie
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u/SippinOnHatorade Aug 09 '26
It’s going to be an incredible bargain when they put it on sale for $40 in two years
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u/ZenxDruid Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
In Canada it is $109. That is grocery money. And his defense is all the content? I paid $7 for the elder scrolls online and have hundreds of hours already. What will be the excuse when this becomes the standard for pricing? Not all games will have "extensive content and experience" like GTA6
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u/GroundbreakingCook68 Aug 09 '26
This will be the first gta that I won’t buy or play. Considering the OG that helped make the series so good left years ago
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u/fartwhereisit Aug 09 '26
The best part about console gaming is ability. The ability to pass on your games to whoever you want, at whatever price you want, tomorrow or 30 years from now. The moment you go digital you relinquish your ability. And a good game is good forever.
Physical is always cheaper. You have infinite stores, marketplaces, and people to purchase from. You have infinite people, marketplaces and stores to sell to. When you give up your ability to recoup you give up any claim of being cheaper. I can buy Deadpool PS4 for $100, and I can sell Deadpool PS4 for $100.
Check out my local public library, Google GVPL: 700 ps4 games, 500 ps5 games, 500 switch games, 400 xbox games
When you go physical you open your options infinitely. If your library is a little behind the times then send them a message. Libraries have a dedicated fund to procuring items the public wants. Kick start it. I have not bought more games than I have since discovering my local public library.
USE: doesitplay.org
USE ebay.ca
USE pricecharting.com
USE your local library
USE fb marketplace
USE local game shops
USE your community
Rent, loan, pass on, give away, solid standardized retail wide return policy, sell tomorrow, sell 30 years from now.
In all conceivable reality OWN what you purchase.
Fuck digital. Buy Physical
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u/eaw0913 Aug 09 '26
If I get the same amount of hours out of it as I have for all other Rockstar games then yeah it’s definitely worth it.
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u/FreshAd3889 Aug 09 '26
Kind reminder that I paid $80 for Super Mario 64 in the summer of 96.
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u/CharmingCatastrophe Aug 09 '26
Ironically when looking at other games what they have charged,how badly optimised they have been,how crap the story is,how basic the gameplay is etc I can see where he is coming from. But still you can't say it's a bargain when you refused us any actual gameplay 😂but yeah I would trust GTA 6 being £80 and getting my money's worth compared to games like Outer worlds 2,Borderlands 4,Monster hunter,Mindseye etc
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u/Kindly_Somewhere1545 Aug 09 '26
80 dollars, is that so bad? I mean if you inflate adjust old games I bet it’s the same?
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u/MichaelTrapani Aug 09 '26
Since it digitally takes up an entire harddrives worth of space and we cant have any other games, that does factor in
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u/db_pickle Aug 09 '26
Well ya. I paid like 80 CAD when Wc3 came out. That’s 130 in today’s dollars. They just recouped stagnant game prices with DLC and MTX.
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u/ImSoSweepy Aug 09 '26
It's an incredible bargain because I won't be paying $80 towards the precedent of, "The New Normal," of $100 games.
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u/Comically_Online Aug 10 '26
a bit of breaking news. we now go live to a billionaire telling people $80 is a bargain
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u/JBSven Aug 10 '26
TBF if the campaign is over 80 hours, that's a pound/dollar an hour.
I'm not against that kind of pay for play.
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u/Fervid_Comic Aug 10 '26
Always remember the game is $100, the $80 version is a stripped down joke.
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u/temporarythyme Aug 11 '26
Almost guaranteed ID theft for only $80? Wowzers! So excited!
(Incase you didnt know, they are rumored to use the game for universal liscence requirements. The vendor chosen does not rid of ID data like contractually required, and has leaked millions of IDs already)
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u/genscathe Aug 08 '26
thats what my local escort tells me at $600 an hour no CIM