wardogs boss thinks rockstar blew the pricing moment with gta 6

Saw the Wardogs thing floating around and it's got me thinking. Joe Brammer, the boss over there, is saying games need to cost more and that Rockstar missed their shot with GTA 6. His argument is basically that Rockstar had the leverage to push prices up and they didn't, so the rest of the industry keeps circling the same pricing problem.

I get where he's coming from in a weird way. GTA 6 is the one game where people would probably pay almost anything. The hype is unreal, pre-orders opened at $79.99 for standard and $99.99 for ultimate back in June. That's already a bump from the old $60 days. But he's acting like Rockstar left money on the table by not going higher.

I'm not convinced. $80 standard is already a hard pill for a lot of people. Throw in the Vintage Vice City Pack as a pre-order bonus and you're already nudging people toward the pricier edition. If Rockstar had gone to $90 or $100 for the base game, I think the backlash would've been loud. Maybe it would've died down, but it's a risky move when you're trying to sell millions of copies day one.

Also, this is the same industry that's been pushing deluxe editions and battle passes for years. Games already cost more in practice. You just don't see it on the sticker. A $70 or $80 base price plus a season pass plus cosmetics adds up fast. So saying Rockstar should've raised the bar feels a little out of touch with how people actually buy games now.

Curious what everyone else thinks. Would you have paid more if Rockstar went higher, or is $80 already the ceiling?

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Source: GamesRadar+ · Curated content.