Games are getting more expensive. That’s no secret, especially in this generation where games are taking longer to make and more skill than ever to produce.
Blockbuster titles - those who call themselves AAA - are up against it and companies like Take-Two, the publishers of GTAVI, are expecting those prices to rise again.
Take-Two and Rockstar Games next title is the juggernaut of GTAVI
You may be thinking “But wait, GTAVI is likely to sell hundreds of millions of copies, won’t that offset the investment?” Well, who knows? The state of the industry right now says that the money is as important as the game’s quality.
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We recently saw a £10/$10 increase as we stepped into this generation of consoles, and while retailers do their best to sell under that cost, publishers could decide to push the price line even further.
On a recent earnings call, Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick discussed the idea of increasing prices going forward. He said, "Look, there's more content constantly being made available, and we really aim to deliver great value at any given time," Zelnick said. "We're so focused on delivering more value than what we charge. And that's sort of the rubric."
He went on to elaborate, saying that the goal is to “vastly overdeliver in the context of the cost.” This essentially means that they will take into account the amount of content they are delivering to the player when considering the price.
Given how large Rockstar’s games already are, and the estimated size of GTAVI, this could mean that they end up deciding that more content means a higher price.
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While Zelnick wants the consumer to feel good about what they’re receiving, the bottom line seems to be that if the game takes years to produce and gives the player thousands of hours of joy, then it’s not unreal that the price rises to reflect that.
Topics: GTA, GTA 6, GTA 5, GTA Online, Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games