After a long wait of 13 years and several delays, all signs point to Rockstar Games’ much-anticipated sequel to the classic series “Grand Theft Auto 6” being 100% certain to be released on November 19. The development team also officially opened pre-orders for players this week. At the same time, another price issue that has troubled players for a long time has finally been answered.
Although many rumors suggested that “Grand Theft Auto 6” may be released at a price that breaks the highest standards of the gaming industry, even reaching $90 to $100, Rockstar Games ultimately chose a price of $80 for the standard version of the game, and the Ultimate Edition, which includes a large number of additional bonus content, fell to $100. This means that this game has become another game to choose this new price point after Nintendo’s “Mario Kart World”, and this will inevitably make players start to worry that the game’s pricing will move from $70 to this new price.
However, in an interview with Reuters this week, Joost van Dreunen, a game course professor and senior industry analyst at New York University’s Stern School of Business, believes that the $80 price tag of “Grand Theft Auto 6”, like “Mario Kart World”, will not completely change the pricing standards of the game industry overnight.
Considering that the previous game “Grand Theft Auto 5” has sold more than 230 million units worldwide for more than ten years, the sequel is bound to cause a phenomenal response when it is launched. Even so far, no other AAA masterpiece dares to compete with “Grand Theft Auto 6” in November. According to recent market forecasts, this game is even expected to hit a sales record of 45 million units on the day it is launched. Because of this, Joost van Dreunen believes the $80 price tag is unlikely to be a deal breaker for fans of the series.
Joost van Dreunen believes that not every game can have the same level of appeal as “Grand Theft Auto” or “Mario Kart”, so other AAA games will still not be able to offer such prices in a short period of time. Of course, there may still be some games trying to follow this price range in the future, but that also means that game publishers or developers have full confidence in their games. As for whether it is worth it, the final decision still lies in the hands of the players.
Because of this, the pricing direction of other AAA titles after 2027 will also be a very interesting target to observe, and it will also show the entire gaming industry’s response to the unprecedented success of “Grand Theft Auto 6”. In addition to “Mario Kart World” and “Grand Theft Auto 6”, Nintendo is expected to release “Drawing on the Devil: Ten Thousand Threads” in September, which will also adopt this price range.
As for what players think? Since previous rumors have caused many fans to overestimate the price of “Grand Theft Auto 6”, most players currently do not have much resistance to the $80 price tag. The real focus of controversy among players lies in Rockstar Games’ arrangement for the release method of this game.
Just after the game opened for pre-order, Rockstar Games confirmed that the “physical version” of “Grand Theft Auto 6” will not include a disc, but will only come with a serial number card. Although this method does save the official production costs, after all, the scale of this game may not be crammed into a single Blu-ray disc, but it also means that it completely blocks the opportunity for second-hand resale, and even reminds many people of the “key card” mechanism adopted by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch 2.
$80 USD for a box with a piece of paper in it https://t.co/UtGZDFHYp7 pic.twitter.com/BD4KzWkoMU
— conner (@winterweather) June 24, 2026
> $1000+ consoles
> $80 games
> digital codes instead of discsIf this is what defines the 10th generation of gaming, it’s a bleak future. pic.twitter.com/iwRikxY6me
— Wesley ✨ (@wesleytypes) June 24, 2026
It’s gonna be hilarious seeing a bunch of games try to charge $80 because Mario Kart and GTA did it, failing to realize they’re not Mario Kart and GTA https://t.co/aMX0EXzh00
— TheNCSmaster (@TheNCSmaster) June 24, 2026
However, some players or industry figures who have been paying close attention to industry news for a long time do not seem to be surprised by this, and among them is game industry reporter Imran Khan. He said that the current news about the sales of “Grand Theft Auto 6” was within his expectations, and blamed the decision to go without discs on the U.S. government’s tariffs, since most game discs are produced in Mexico.
None of the GTA6 info shocks me. $80 seems like what they have been indicating for years. Even if that game fits on a disc (I bet it doesn't), the decision on disc orders was probably made deep into Tariff Territory and discs get printed in Mexico and that was always going to be an issue.
— Imran Khan (@imrankhan.bsky.social) 2026-06-24T13:16:58.263Z
On the other hand, the content of Grand Theft Auto 6 Ultimate Edition has also caused other controversies among some players. They believe that the extra content that comes with this version should be included in the standard version of the game and should not be separated out and charged for extra.
“Grand Theft Auto 6” will be released on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S platforms on November 19. According to public information from Rockstar Games, the game will be available for pre-download on November 12, and the download serial number for the physical version will also be available on the same day.
Source: KOCPC Chinese