Zelnick says GTA 6 at $80 is a "bargain" because of how many hours you get out of it

Strauss Zelnick went on CNBC and made the value argument again, this time with a grocery bill comparison. His pitch: money's tight for everybody right now, food and gas are up, entertainment isn't immune to that, but a game like GTA 6 still comes out ahead because of how much time you sink into it.

His line was basically that interactive entertainment is a real bargain, and GTA specifically. He pointed at GTA 5 as the example, saying people have put hundreds of hours into it without getting bored, and he expects people to stick with GTA 6 for a long stretch too. Then the kicker: when you give people what they want, they show up, whatever the economy's doing.

the math he keeps bringing up

He's made this point before and it's not wrong on paper. GTA 5 was $60 back in 2013, and $60 in 2013 money is around $85 today. So the $79.99 standard edition is technically cheaper than what we paid for GTA 5 thirteen years ago. The $99.99 Ultimate Edition exists too if you want the extra in-game stuff.

He's also said before that Rockstar could've charged more and chose not to so more people could actually get the game. Which, sure. Easy thing to say when pre-orders are apparently blowing past expectations.

the part he skipped

Here's my thing. The game being a good deal per hour doesn't help if you don't already own the hardware. Consoles are more expensive than they've ever been thanks to the component and memory shortages, so the real cost of playing GTA 6 on day one is the game plus whatever a PS5 or Series X runs you right now. That's the number people are actually staring at, not $80.

I'm not mad at the price. $80 for a Rockstar game I'll probably play for years is fine by me. But a CEO telling me something's a bargain while I'm looking at grocery receipts is a little funny. Just say it's worth it and move on, man.

Are you buying at $80, going Ultimate, or waiting to see how the first week shakes out?

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Source: GameSpot · Curated content.