I Hate That GTA 6 Will Get Away With It

Close By Kyle Gratton Published Jun 24, 2026, 6:46 PM EDT Kyle Gratton is an editor and writer based out of Kansas City. He received a bachelor's degree, dual majoring in English and History with a minor in Film and Media Studies, and has been a senior staff writer and reviewer for Screen Rant's Gaming section since 2021, with roles in editorial, and various freelance projects. A terminal Midwesterner who graduated from the University of Kansas, Kyle also has knowledge and interest in literature, film, film adaptions of literature, and history.

Find Kyle on Bluesky: kwg.bsky.social and Letterboxd: KyleG5 Sign in to your ScreenRant account Grand Theft Auto 6 is going to be a disaster.

Not commercially. For you and me and the future of gaming consumerism. There has never been a more anticipated game than GTA 6, and Rockstar knows it.

It will be an unprecedented hit, and probably for good reason – Grand Theft Auto has never disappointed; Red Dead Redemption has never disappointed; why would GTA 6 be any different? We haven't seen a single second of actual gameplay (I expect that to change soon with a third trailer), and Rockstar is effectively guaranteed to turn a profit, regardless of however ludicrously expensive GTA 6 was to develop. Rockstar is wielding this unparalleled power irresponsibly.

GTA 6 Begins The Age Of $80 Games Jason and Lucia control a boat in Vice City in GTA 6. Years-long conjecture was finally put to an end by Rockstar announcing Grand Theft Auto 6's price, $80. This bucks a relatively recent convention of premier, triple-A games – admittedly a nebulous, inexact definition – costing $70, a new price point brought in alongside the first two ninth-generation consoles, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

The rationale has been inflation, which is a fair argument from publishers, and I think we're actually in a time when games are generally being priced accordingly. We occasionally get a "big" game for 40 or 50 bucks. Even Nintendo isn't slapping a $70 price tag on every game by default.

Yes, it is funny that I brought up Nintendo in a discussion of video game prices, the company that first listed a title at $80, Mario Kart World. But for all the outrage it received a year ago, it so far hasn't been a problem that's reared its ugly head a second time. I expect the next 3D Super Mario to be $80, and I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to use that price point for the Ocarina of Time remake, but it has so far been a one-off.

Donkey Kong Bananza didn't cost $80, neither did Pokémon Pokopia. Mario Kart World is seen as this bizarre Nintendo outlier. Really?

The new Mario Kart? That's the game we're charging an extra $10 for? But GTA 6 is different.

Rockstar's games are different. Eight years on, Red Dead Redemption 2 still has the most detailed, impressive open world – and by quite a large margin, I might add. Where people look at Mario Kart World and scoff at the idea that it is priced at $80, they look at GTA 6 (again, with no gameplay yet shown) and think, "Now that's a game that is probably worth $80."

It's a dangerous notion. Everything else aside, products getting more expensive is bad for consumers. Inflation was a passable excuse for games adopting the new $70 threshold, but wages are not increasing at the same rate.

Six years later, Rockstar is trying to raise the bar again, and GTA 6 will probably be the game to succeed. Rockstar knows you will pay $80 for GTA 6. Rockstar knows I will pay $80 for GTA 6.

If Mario Kart World was some sort of fluke, easily gotten at a discount when bundled with the brand-new Switch 2, Grand Theft Auto 6 is the game that finally opens the floodgates, releasing on six-year-old hardware that recently saw a price increase. There Is No Standard Edition, Only GTA 6 Lite Lucia standing in front of geometric architecture in a maroon jacket and skirt, and tiger-stripe knee-high boots. The real kick to the shins, though, is that the $80 version of Grand Theft Auto 6 isn't really the full game.

Deluxe editions are nothing new, and the degree to which various games use them predatorily is a regular point of conversation ahead of major releases. Paid early access gets its due flak, but the prevalence of bonus cosmetics and digital goodies like soundtracks in such editions is generally harmless. GTA 6's ultimate edition is already being lambasted as a new, scummy low.

Grand Theft Auto 6's $100 ultimate edition, per Rockstar, includes "an exclusive collection of premium vehicles, weapons, apparel, and action" that is "threaded across all aspects of Jason and Lucia’s story, with new items uncovered behind each chapter." Here is the full list of ultimate edition bonuses: '95 Grotti Cheetah vehicle Hawk and Little Morgan revolvers Personalized variants of Jason's Girardi ES9 pistol and Lucia's Klose K17 pistol Vice City style, comprising exclusive outfits, tattoos, and more Jason's safehouse vehicles: an Army fatigue-tinged Dinka Enduro motorcycle and Crest Kayak Ganado Retro