Will GTA 6 set a new standard for video game pricing?

Despite these concerns, it is unlikely that GTA 6 will be priced at over $150 for the base game. Such a price point would alienate a significant portion of the gaming audience, regardless of the content offered.

A more plausible scenario is a combination of a more expensive premium edition and then a collector's edition at a higher price. These premium-priced offerings would come with additional content and physical collectibles to justify the cost. This would be in line with the earlier rumors that GTA 6 will have single-player DLC, unlike GTA 5.

Looking at Rockstar's past releases provides insights into their pricing strategy. GTA 5, for instance, was released with multiple editions, with the collector's edition priced significantly higher than the base game. On a similar note, Red Dead Redemption 2 had different editions, with the most expensive offering additional in-game content and physical items. These examples suggest that Rockstar is likely to follow a similar model for GTA 6, offering various editions to cater to different segments of their audience.

The pricing of GTA 6 may also be influenced by the broader trends in the gaming industry. With the cost of producing AAA games increasing, developers and publishers are exploring different revenue models, including higher base prices, deluxe editions, and live-service elements with ongoing content updates. Rockstar might adopt a combination of these strategies for GTA 6, balancing the need to recover development costs with the desire to make the game accessible to a wide audience.

A particularly divisive but also extremely likely scenario is for Rockstar to offer early access to GTA 6, exclusive to more expensive editions of the game.

Either way, what's clear is GTA 6 is a colossal project whose development costs reflect its stature. Even so, it's unlikely to raise the standard base prices of video games in two years. Despite possibly being able to get away with selling GTA 6 at a $100 price point, Rockstar is expected to price the game competitively, leaving the higher-pricing for the collectors and hardcore fans.

In the meantime, GTA fans might want to pray for Rockstar to find some peace after a recent set of GTA 5 leaks revealed sensitive employee information and the company's canceled plans.