Analyst believes GTA VI should be $200 – this is why we don’t listen to analysts kids

For the past few months, and probably for the next few too, there has been a disturbance in the Force. You can feel it, I can feel it. If someone wants a bit of attention, all they have to do is come up with a “hot take” about Grand Theft Auto VI. Anybody who wanted to get noticed for something, maybe perhaps a little more than normal just needs to talk absolute boll, er, nonsense with a “fresh, HOT TAKE” about Grand Theft Auto VI and voila – instant publicity.

Now you can argue that by writing this page, I’m just doing what this particular dude wants, but not quite, as I have no intention of pandering to clickbait views.

In a recent interview Ben Thompson, founder of tech newsletter Stratechery – I know, i can’t work out how to say it either, believes that Rockstar, “only” charging $80-$100 for a game they will probably sell around 40 million copies of is undercutting the real value of the project.

There you go, baseless “HOT TAKE!”

They should be charging like $200 for this game! GTA 6 is like, the last great game.”

“It was mostly all made pre-AI. It is the pinnacle of AAA craftsmanship. Years and years and years of blood, sweat, and tears. To the extent where you have the Twitter analysts like, counting cigarette butts outside Rockstar’s offices to see how much crunch they’re in.”

“I feel compelled to buy GTA 6, just in honor of it existing. Even if I don’t know if I’m ever going to play it. I’d be happy to pay $200. $80 is ridiculous. They should charge more.”

Well, you might Ben, but maybe not everybody in this day and age, has that kind of money to pay for video game, but compelled the same as you, might feel obliged to get it so as not to miss out.

The dangerous precedent of shooting game prices up like that has thankfully been resisted by common sense. Now, granted, I’m no analyst, what do I know, I’ve only been in the industry for 35 years, but would Rocktsar still sell 40 million copies at £200. personally, I seriously doubt it.

Would there be mass outrage at such a flagrant cash grab. Of course there would. Would people boycott GTA VI. Of course they would. Analyse all that Ben.

Even if Thompson was being deliberately provocative, the timing is tone-deaf. This is an industry where players are already facing higher console prices, more expensive subscriptions and $80 standard editions. Suggesting one game should cost $200 because it’s “worth it” is exactly the sort of idea publishers don’t need floating around right now.

So no Ben, Rockstar should not be charging $200 for a video game. Not now, not ever. Great games should be as accessible as possible, not luxury trinkets reserved for those who can afford them.

Authored by Paul McNally

Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title. Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the The Mirror. He has also hosted panels at retro-gaming conventions and can regularly be found guesting on gaming podcasts and Twitch shows. Believing that the reader deserves actually to enjoy what they are reading is a big part of Paul’s ethos when it comes to gaming journalism, elevating the sites he works on above the norm.

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