Grand Theft Auto VI might end up breaking the $80 price barrier and pave the way for more expensive video games in general, according to a recent 219-page report from a well-respected industry analyst.

Thank you in advance to Gamespot’s Eddie Makuch for the source (per Matthew Ball).

Matthew Ball’s annual “State of Video Gaming” report for 2025 is here, and it brings some poor news: Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto VI (and potentially even all video games following its release) might retail at somewhere between $80 and $100.

“There is hope that Take-Two will price GTA VI at $80 or even $100,” states Ball in his report, “thereby breaking a key price barrier and enabling the rest of the market to move up, too.”

“In 2025, GTA VI‘s impact on industry playtime and spend will be mixed as it launches console-only and (severely) cannibalises hours/spend on other titles).”

Ball’s theory isn’t without merit, either. I can’t exactly sum up 219 pages of research for you in a simple sentence, but there are two pretty huge factors at play here.

Firstly, while video game retail prices are high, on paper at least, they’re actually a lot less profitable on a sale-by-sale basis now than they’ve ever been.

It’s definitely something a more financially minded person would be better at explaining than I, but here’s the dumbed-down version for you: video game budgets are higher than they’ve ever been, and the profit made on a single sale is (roughly) $20-ish dollars lower now than it was in the mid-2000s.

Or, as Ball explains it: “No player hopes for such a hike, but recall that packaged prices have never been lower in real terms than they are today – even though budgets are at all-time highs.”

And here’s the real kicker: Take-Two’s GTA VI is perhaps the most anticipated game in video game history, so if anyone could get away with charging a premium it’s them.

At this point, it’s less of a case of whether GTA VI will be more expensive… and more of a case of how much more expensive it will be.