Games are likely to follow Mario Kart World and GTA 6's lead with an $80 base price tag, according to several analysts, but only the biggest of games will be able to pull it off unscathed.
Like Mario Kart World before it, GTA 6's price has raised big question marks over the heads of anyone worried about higher video game costs. Will $80 become the new standard? Not exactly, say some analysts we talked to, but they will become much more common in the months and years following GTA 6's November release date.
DFC Intelligence's David Cole explains to GamesRadar+ that "the industry has already been moving to this price point, led by Nintendo," a publisher that launches games with all sorts of price tags attached. "The issue is there are only a handful of premium games that command this price point."
Essentially, not every game will have the easiest time launching at $80. Grand Theft Auto and Super Mario can because they're, well, Grand Theft Auto and Super Mario. Cole adds that Rockstar Games is continuing a precedent "for only the most in-demand games with a built-in initial audience... It is the industry going towards a tiered pricing model where it is recognized that some games simply provide much more value than others and should be priced accordingly."
Joost van Dreunen echoes the point, saying the new $80 standard will be "reserved for only a select few titles and franchises" that can command it, and publishers that try to charge $80 on games that don't deliver "will likely come to regret that."
"Gaming is increasingly becoming a luxury category," van Dreunen continues. "Its economics have historically centered around a winner-takes-most model, and GTA 6 raises the bar again. Publishers who can clear it will pull further ahead, and those who cannot will have to compete on distribution instead, finding new channels, bundles, and pricing models to reach players the blockbusters don't."
Serkan Toto of Kantan Games notes that corporate owner Take-Two was already the first publisher to charge $70 back in 2020. That was an inflated price other companies very quickly adopted, "and I believe the rest of the industry will follow them this time as well - whenever it makes sense," Toto says.
Rockstar Games reportedly has no plans to print GTA 6 discs at launch or in the months after
