Larian publishing chief Michael Douse has warned that game companies are saying the silent part after industry analyst Michael Ball wrote that some of them hope Grand Theft Auto 6 will be available for at least $80 and possibly as much as $100.
The note appeared in Ball’s “State of video games in 2025“, which lists Grand Theft Auto 6 as one of several “potential new ‘growth engines'”, alongside elements such as user-generated content, the launch of the Switch 2 and the development of “non-core” markets.
“In 2025, GTA 6’s impact on game time and industry spend will be mixed as it will be exclusive to consoles and (severely) cannibalizes hours/spend on other titles,” Ball wrote. “But some game developers are hoping that GTA 6 will be priced at $80 to $100, which will break the $70 barrier and help $50 titles go to $60, $60 to $70, $70 to $80, etc.”
Ball said gaming “has never been worse in real terms than it is today,” which he described as a “difficult early problem made worse by stalled player growth and rising costs” of development.
“Their products have not lost value almost year after year for several decades, and this harms developers regardless of size and budget,” he wrote. “In real terms, GTA 6 at $70 would be the cheapest GTA ever – 30% cheaper than the original 2D versions and 16-24% cheaper than GTA 4 and GTA 5.”
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“You shouldn’t say that out loud!!!!” Douse continued writing X (By GamesRadar) in response to a VGC the story of the Ball report.
“A good company increases salaries in line with inflation so that its employees don’t die or something, but the prices of games don’t increase with inflation,” he said. further. “This is not the reason why the industry is in a terrible state right now, but it is an inconvenient truth. On the other hand, it is the responsibility of the game developer to make sure that the game he shows lives up to that promise and that investment from the player.”
It’s, as Ball said, a tough nut to crack. The costs of creating high-budget games have increased dramaticallywhile purchase prices have remained relatively stable – especially on PC, Steam sales and Epic freebies have conditioned us to expect our games to be cheap. This makes raising overall prices a difficult proposition, as publishers risk alienating buyers who would rather wait for a sale rather than spring for a new game on launch day.
This does not mean that this is an insurmountable problem –Activision he turned the knob a little in 2022 with Modern Warfare 2, and if any upcoming game can get away with another significant price increase, it will be Grand Theft Auto 6 – but it will undoubtedly be the subject of much controversy and grumbling when it happens.
The question is also whether GTA 6 for $80 (or $100) would actually have this kind of overall impact on pricing across the industry, an issue Douse raised in response to users who pointed out that people might be willing to spend that kind of sum on the new Grand Theft Auto and not much else.
“We’re in a weird moment where retail doesn’t define production and content, but no one does now” – Douse he wrote. “There is no standard. It’s hard to analyze. It’s the “wild west”. The point is that maybe Rockstar has enough clout to make a new law. And because of this, others will sink or swim?”
The video game industry is already in significant decline, as evidenced by the layoffs and closures that have plagued studios over the past two years and countingSimply raising the price of new games at launch won’t solve the problem. But is it GTA 6, Elder Scrolls 6or whatever Larian is next cookingit will happen eventually – and while paying more sucks, as anyone remembers spending over $60 on System Shock 2 back in 1999 (yes, in Canada, but that’s the point), I don’t think it will be completely unjustified.
For the record, Grand Theft Auto 6 still hasn’t been announced for PC – as Ball wrote, I fully expect that when it does come out, it will be a console-only release and we’ll get it later.
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