Take-Two CEO may have hinted at GTA VI's launch price: “Full price” could be $70–$80

GTA VI may cost between $70 and $80, according to a recent interview. It seems Grand Theft Auto VI’s retail price may have been indirectly alluded to by Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick in a discussion focused on in-game ads. In an interview, he discouraged the idea of in-game ads in a title like Grand Theft Auto VI. That’s when Strauss Zelnick dropped the words “$70 to $80” for a "full price game", potentially hinting at where GTA VI’s launch price would sit.

Take-Two CEO may have hinted that Grand Theft Auto VI might cost between $70-80 at launch

Strauss Zelnick recently sat down for an interview with The Game Business and, while discussing in-game ads, he said:

“It’s very difficult for me to believe that we (Rockstar Games) would want to have interstitial advertising in a game that someone paid 70 or 80 bucks for; that would seem unfair.” 

He mentioned this price range in a broader discussion of current trends in the video game industry, but it could also be seen as a clear hint at what players might pay for Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto VI when it arrives on November 19, 2026.

Still, it isn’t a direct announcement or confirmation, so this $70–$80 price range should be taken with a grain of salt, especially considering analysts like Matthew Ball and Michael Pachter believe that GTA VI will have a “breakthrough” $100 launch price.

Take-Two CEO says Grand Theft Auto VI won’t feature in-game ads

Later in the interview, Strauss Zelnick addressed the growing speculation about in-game advertising in high-budget AAA titles. Gamers have long speculated that GTA VI might include real-world brands and billboards in the fictional state of Leonida. He pushed back on the idea, saying that GTA VI will not feature in-game ads.

The pricing hint that slipped from Zelnick’s lips does stand out, considering there’s no official price tag for Grand Theft Auto VI as of yet.

Zelnick also pushed back on another concern, highlighting that longtime fans who bought GTA V in 2013 are now 13 years older and might not have the same free time to experience GTA VI. 

He immediately shut down the notion, saying that many new 17-year-old players would jump into the game on day one and that older players would finally be able to buy the game without parental supervision. 

At the end of the day, Zelnick made it clear that Grand Theft Auto VI will deliver a premium experience when it releases on November 19, 2026, without becoming a cash grab. Whether the game will cost between $70 and $80 is open for debate, but the fact that TTWO's CEO considers it a threshold for a 'full price' title could be taken as a good sign for gamers already reeling from inflation that has extended to console prices as well as PC hardware recently.

Buy GTA V on Amazon here