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As fans fear $100 GTA 6 but Mafia is only $50, Take-Two CEO says "we've always had variable pricing," because if a game's a hit "the revenue is going to take care of itself"
The shadow of the GTA 6 price is a long one, but while Rockstar is keeping quiet for now, publisher 2K has just come out with a $50 tag for Mafia: The Old Country – something that Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick says a standard part of its strategy.
Asked about the difference between the growing trend for $80 games and Mafia's discounted tag, Zelnick said that Take-Two has "always had variable pricing," but that it makes pricing decisions based on a "rubric [...] of delivering way more value to consumers than we charge."
"We aim to make the best entertainment on Earth and bring that to all consumers, wherever they are, and we need to deliver value in so doing," he continued. In the case of Mafia: The Old Country specifically, he says "we think it's extraordinary. It looks amazing, and we want to get it into as many hands as we possibly can."
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"Our view is that if you create a huge hit, and everyone wants it and everyone buys it, the revenue is going to take care of itself."
It's an interesting line around Mafia, which developer Hangar 13 revealed last week to be a linear experience - a significant departure from the series' open-world roots. However, that change of scope is reflected in the price – $50 for a full-fledged AAA release from a major publisher is certainly a drop from the $60+ figures we've started to see with increasing regularity over the past few years.
Unfortunately, if Take-Two, which owns 2K and Rockstar Games, is going to be in the habit of pricing games according to scope, it might mean that GTA 6 players do take a bigger hit than normal to their wallets. Trailer 2, which dropped earlier this month, offered a dizzying array of new details, including several astonishingly intricate graphics and animation offerings. It's clear Rockstar isn't aiming for a cheap experience.
I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.
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