'You’re not supposed to say this out loud!': Baldur's Gate 3 dev reacts to analyst who says some game makers 'hope' Grand Theft Auto 6 will cost up to $100 at launch
Larian head of publishing Michael Douse warned that game companies are saying the quiet part out loud after industry analyst Michael Ball wrote that some of them are hoping Grand Theft Auto 6 will launch with a price of at least $80, and possibly as high as $100.
The remark came in Ball's "State of Videogaming in 2025" report, which lists Grand Theft Auto 6 as one of several «potential new 'growth engines',» alongside things like user-generated content, the release of the Switch 2, and the growth of «non-core» markets.
«In 2025, GTA 6's impact on industry playtime and spend will be mixed as it launches console-only and (severely) cannibalizes hours/spend on other titles,» Ball wrote. «But some gamemakers hope GTA 6 will be priced at $80—$100, breaking the $70 barrier and helping $50 titles to move up to $60, $60 to $70, $70 to $80, etc.»
Ball said games «have never been lower in real terms than they are today,» which he described as «a tough problem to start and worsened by stalled player growth and rising costs» of development.
«No other major leisure forms have seen their products become worth less nearly every single year for decades—and this hurts developers of every size and budget,» he wrote. «In real terms, a $70 GTA 6 would be the cheapest-ever GTA—30% less than its original 2D entries, and 16-24% less than GTA 4 and GTA 5.»
«You’re not supposed to say this out loud!!!!» Douse wrote on X (via GamesRadar) in response to a VGC story about Ball's report.
«A good company raises salaries in line with inflation so that their staff don’t die or something, but games prices haven’t risen with inflation,» he continued. «This isn’t the reason the industry is in the shit for now, but it is an uncomfortable truth. On the other hand, the responsibility for a game developer is to make sure that the game they show lives up to that promise, and that investment from the player.»
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