Analyst Says GTA 6 Price Should Hit $200, Calling It the Final Big Game
Grand Theft Auto 6 is poised to become the second major title priced at $80, following Mario Kart World. Unlike the kind of pricing pushback that has derailed other premium releases, there’s reportedly very little chance Rockstar will walk back that number. Still, one tech analyst argues the price tag should move in the other direction—higher, not lower.
GTA 6 Should Cost $200, Apparently
That’s right: $200. In a discussion on TBPN (with the segment noted by Kotaku), tech analyst Ben Thompson claimed Rockstar should charge far more than the expected $80—also suggesting it shouldn’t settle for $100, a figure that circulated as a likely ceiling and matches the cost of the game’s Ultimate Edition.
Thompson’s proposal puts GTA 6 at more than double the expected price, which would also make it, in his view, the most expensive game ever—at least in standard pricing, even before considering collector-style editions.
“They should be charging like $200 for this game. GTA 6 is the last great game,” Thompson said. He added that the project was “mostly all made pre-AI,” positioning it as the peak of “triple-A craftsmanship.” He also referenced the intense development effort, describing it as years of “blood, sweat, and tears.” Thompson even pointed to the way social media “analysts” monitor Rockstar’s workload, framing it as people counting signs of crunch outside the studio.
The “cigarette” anecdote is said to have been based on real claims of that sort of scrutiny. At the same time, the broader idea that GTA 6 will be “the last great game” is treated as an exaggeration. Even if there’s concern about how AI is being used more frequently across development, it doesn’t automatically follow that, after GTA 6 launches in November, the rest of the industry will be left entirely to AI.
Thompson Is Almost Definitely Alone
Thompson’s case for a $200 GTA 6 starts to weaken beyond the initial shock value. He also says he’d personally be willing to pay that amount even if he never ended up playing it—framing the purchase as a show of respect for the game’s existence rather than guaranteed personal enjoyment. “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,” he said.
His co-hosts pushed back, calling it a “nuclear take” that could get him canceled. While “canceled” may be too strong, the implication is that the comment is designed to draw attention. Either way, the result is that the statement is now being widely discussed—enough that it’s turned into a news item rather than staying just a hot take in a podcast slot.
Even with GTA 6 set to be $80, the expectation that it might have been even higher seems to have taken some of the sting out of the pre-order chatter. The most significant backlash came when the physical edition was revealed to lack a disc—just a code packed in a box. In addition, PlayStation’s announcement that all of its games will use that kind of approach starting in 2028 reportedly helped reduce pressure on Rockstar for making a similar choice.
Grand Theft Auto 6
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Grand Theft Auto VI is set in the state of Leonida, featuring neon-lit streets linked to Vice City and beyond, in what’s positioned as the biggest and most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series to date.
Jason and Lucia have always felt the odds stacked against them. But when a straightforward job goes wrong, they end up on the darker side of what looks like America’s sunniest place—caught in a criminal conspiracy that stretches across Leonida. To make it out alive, they’ll need to lean on each other more than ever.
