We are, as of now, just over three months away from the release of GTA 6. Despite the premium edition costing $100, pre-orders have been strong, and if you're someone who's holding out for the price to drop, you might be waiting a considerable amount of time, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says.
During an appearance on CNBC, Zelnick addressed whether there'll be any kind of discount for the holiday period this year. The short answer is there won't, and we shouldn't expect to see one in the near future either - unless retailers take matters into their own hands.
"We establish our pricing, and then storefronts can do what they wish," he says. "We don't have any ability to control that. So if they reduce the price, they're obviously reducing their margin on the sale."
He mentions there'll be "certain situations" where stores may "price down" to push people towards other products available in the same retailer. This is where your bespoke console bundles come in and such.
Given the widespread appeal of GTA 6, and how it'll likely encourage many to finally pick up a current-generation system, I would expect to see quite a few of these packages across the major chains. But that's at the discretion of those companies, based on the wholesale cost from Take-Two and Rockstar. Zelnick points to the game's predecessor for how GTA 6's pricing will look one, two or three years from now.
"We preserved our pricing on Grand Theft Auto 5 for a very long time," he explains. "Much longer than a standard release and entertainment property."
He concedes that the price will "eventually" go down, but we're talking potentially years from now. GTA 5 has been a consistent best-seller since launch, routinely re-entering games charts around the world to this day. There's never been a need to substantially reduce the cost, though it has been offered for free on several occasions now.
But that's over the course of 13 years. You could be waiting a decade before GTA 6 goes the same route. I'm not saying it's likely, just possible. Either way, if you want to play it soon, you'll need to pay at least $80.
