analyst thinks other publishers will copy gta 6's $80 price and that's a mistake
Saw this analyst take on the $80 price and it got me thinking. Rhys Elliott from Ampere Analytics basically said GTA 6 opening at $80 might make every other publisher think they can do the same. And that would be a disaster for most of them.
His point is that GTA is a special case. People will pay $80 for GTA 6 because it's GTA 6. It's been over a decade since the last one, the hype is unreal, and Rockstar has a track record of delivering massive games. But your average new IP or run of the mill sequel? Not so much.
He said the smarter move for most publishers is to keep the base game at $70 and then stack premium editions on top. You know, the $80 to $100 versions with early access, cosmetics, season passes. That way the superfans who can't wait pay extra, and everyone else just buys the standard version or waits for a sale. It's not exactly ethical but it's been working for years.
What worries me is that some exec somewhere is going to look at GTA 6's preorder numbers and think "oh, $80 is fine now." Meanwhile Nintendo just kept Donkey Kong Bananza at $70, which is probably the right call. And with consoles possibly heading toward $1000 next gen, the last thing we need is every game jumping to $80 too.
I get that games cost more to make now, but there's a difference between GTA 6 and some random open world game that'll be forgotten in a month. If publishers don't understand that, they're going to learn the hard way when their $80 game flops and everyone just waits for a discount.
Do you think other publishers will actually try to charge $80 for their next big game, or will they stick with $70 and just push more expensive editions?
Source: GameSpot · Curated content.