Grand Theft Auto 6 looms on the horizon, set for an Autumn 2025 release, and it’s already stirring up a storm. With just one trailer dropped in December 2023, Rockstar Games has kept details—like the price—under lock and key, leaving fans and analysts to speculate wildly. Word on the street, fueled by industry watchers like Matthew Ball, is that GTA 6 might hit shelves at $100 for the base game—a jump that’s got players clutching their wallets and venting on X. “$100 for GTA 6? Robbery!” some cry, while others, like @skibitsky, counter that it’s not so crazy when you crunch the numbers. Peel back the layers, though, and history offers a twist: the original Grand Theft Auto from 1997, priced at $50, would cost nearly $100 today if adjusted for inflation. Suddenly, that triple-digit rumor doesn’t sound so outlandish—it’s just keeping pace with the past. Here’s why that $100 tag, while tough to swallow, might not be the gouge it seems.

GTA 6 May Cost $100, According To Rumors

Rockstar Has Not Confirmed A Price Yet

Back in 1997, the first Grand Theft Auto rolled out on the PS1 amid a firestorm of controversy. Its top-down, crime-soaked chaos—where you played the crook, not the cop—sparked moral panic, with some stores even refusing to stock it. Priced at around $50 (depending on the retailer), it was a standard AAA tag for the era, alongside giants like Final Fantasy VII. But fast forward 28 years, and that $50, per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI calculator, balloons to $99.83 in 2025 dollars. That’s right—the original GTA had the same wallet impact then as $100 would now. Meanwhile, AAA prices have crept up slower than inflation. The $60 norm held from the mid-2000s through the PS4 era, only nudging to $70 in 2020 with the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. X users like @paulmcginley_ note GTA 5’s $60 in 2013 equates to $80 today—meaning GTA 6 at $100 is barely a 20% hike despite a budget reportedly 5-8 times higher.

$100 Is A Lot, But PS1 Games Cost Around That Much (Adjusted For Inflation)

Prices Have Remained Steady For Almost Thirty Years

That budget’s the elephant in the room. Rumors peg GTA 6’s development costs between $1 billion and $2 billion—unverified, sure, but plausible given its scope. GTA 5 cost $265 million in 2013 (about $350 million now), and it still turned heads. GTA 6 promises a Vice City bigger than ever, with two protagonists (Lucia and her unnamed partner), cutting-edge tech, and a decade-plus of polish since its predecessor. Web sources like The Economic Times suggest this could make it the priciest game ever, dwarfing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s $700 million tab. Rockstar’s not just banking on sales—GTA Online raked in $500 million in 2022 alone via Shark Cards and GTA+ subs, per The Wall Street Journal. A $100 price could set a new AAA benchmark, letting studios offset ballooning costs without leaning solely on microtransactions, as analyst Matthew Ball argues in his “State of Video Gaming in 2025” report.

But let’s not kid ourselves—$100 stings. Fans on X aren’t shy about it: “I’ll pay if it’s mind-blowing,” one writes, while another balks, “$125 CAD in Canada? Too much.” It’s a luxury item, always has been. Video games kicked off pricey—NES carts in the ‘80s ran $40-$50, over $100 today—and GTA’s debut kept that tradition alive. Yet, as Ball points out, game prices have defied inflation’s climb. Rent’s up, Netflix is pricier, movie tickets have doubled since 1997, but AAA titles lingered at $60 for nearly two decades before the $70 shift. Development costs, though? Skyrocketing. Red Dead Redemption 2 hit $540 million; Baldur’s Gate 3’s Michael Douse argues on X that prices should match “quality, breadth, and depth,” not stagnate while budgets soar. GTA 6 at $70 would be the “cheapest” in the series’ real-term history—$100 just catches up.

How Much GTA On PS1 Cost Compared To GTA’s Rumored $100

The Potential Price Of GTA 6 Is Shockingly Similar To The 1997 Game

Rockstar’s playing a long game, though. GTA 5 sold 205 million copies and counting, but GTA Online’s the cash cow—$500 million yearly from microtransactions, per WSJ, without counting base sales. GTA 6 will likely follow suit, bundling an updated Online mode to keep the revenue flowing. A $100 tag risks shrinking that funnel, as analyst Mat Piscatella warns on Bluesky: “You don’t narrow the base when Online’s where the real money is.” Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick, in a 2024 earnings call, dodged specifics but stressed “delivering more value than we charge.” History backs this—GTA 5 launched at $60, not a premium, and still hit $1 billion in three days. A $100 base price could spark backlash, but premium editions (like Red Dead 2’s $99.99 Ultimate) already flirt with that line, softening the blow.

Context matters. The $70 hike in 2020—pioneered by Take-Two—stuck without much fuss, buying three years of inflation buffer. GTA 6 at $80-$100 could normalize higher tags, as Ball hopes, letting $50 games creep to $60, $60 to $70, and so on. Other studios watch eagerly—Monster Hunter Wilds offers a $100 Deluxe Edition with DLC, while Starfield’s $300 Constellation Edition flew off shelves. But GTA 6 isn’t just any game. Analysts like DFC Intelligence predict $3 billion in year-one sales, $1 billion from pre-orders alone, per ZeroHedge. It’s a cultural juggernaut—$100 might not dent its hype, though it’d test fans’ wallets in a shaky economy. X posts split the mood: some see value in a 500-800% budget jump for a 20% price rise; others dread a precedent for every AAA title.

So, is $100 fair? Inflation says yes—the original GTA proves it’s not new territory. Development costs scream yes—$1 billion-plus isn’t pocket change. But fairness isn’t the vibe when you’re forking over a Benjamin for 60-100 hours of Vice City chaos. Rockstar could dodge the heat with a $70 base and a $100+ deluxe tier, a la Diablo 4’s $100 Ultimate Edition plus extras. Leaks—like a debunked $150 rumor from 2023—keep fans jittery, but Rockstar’s silence (post-2022 hacking woes) fuels the fire. Posts on X suggest they’re stoking hype organically, aware of every theory.

Here’s the rub: GTA 6 will sell, $100 or not. It’s poised to outstrip Avatar’s box office in revenue, per IGN’s $3 billion forecast. But that $100 rumor isn’t about gouging—it’s about catching up. Games have been a steal in real terms for too long, as Ball argues, while costs spiral. Compare that $99.83 from 1997 to today’s $70 norm—players have had it good. GTA 6 might just reset the clock, not break the bank. I’ll grumble at the checkout, sure, but when I’m tearing through Vice City with Lucia, dodging cops and chasing profits, that $100 might feel like a bargain. History says it’s not robbery—it’s just inflation calling its dues.