The CEO of Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto VI (aka GTA 6), wants players to pay more for longer games.
Rockstar Games recently announced: the first official trailer for GTA 6 will be broadcast in early December 2023 (expected at the Games Awards ceremony). It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this is the most anticipated video game of the decade and that its release should have the effect of a tidal wave. GTA V is still the most profitable cultural product of all time today, with a total of $6 billion profit standalone and without additional paid content.
It is also the second best-selling game of all time Minecraft, with 190 million copies sold. This shows the enormous weight that the franchise is worth Grand Theft Auto for Rockstar and its publisher Take-Two. Despite everything, the latter doesn’t seem to be completely satisfied. According to him, GTA could and should bring them even more.
Ten years ago the colossal GTA 5 was released
GTA Eternal
As a Skyrim, GTA 5 never tires the players. Rockstar knew how to exploit his streak, and while it was working on its next projects, it almost rejected its blockbuster three console generations ! Reissues of GTA 5 were so numerous that it almost became a joke. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the game continued to sell massively.
Because, aside from the single-player campaign (which many still return to), it’s the incredible density of its multiplayer aspectwhat gave it such a long lifespan. Thanks to mods, players were able to take over the city of Los Santos, turning it into an arena for battles, adventures and most importantly… role-playing games. Thanks to what we now call GTA RPThe rock star title is still in fashion ten years later the top 5 most popular games on Twitch. Just that.
The GTA role-playing game made for some memorable scenes on Twitch
With GTA 5, so we get what we pay for. And according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, we might even be getting a little too much for our money. During a financial call (transcribed by The Motley Fool), the publisher reportedly expressed frustration that gamers are not paying more for games that are longer than average. As GTA 5 For example.
During the same call, Zelnick specifically mentioned: a new algorithmWho would price their products based on a game’s potential lifespan (and that’s not entirely clear):
“In terms of pricing and for any entertainment, the algorithm would calculate […] its value per hour multiplied by the number of hours scheduled, plus the final value that the customer perceives in possession of the title if it is actually owned and not, for example, rented or subscribed .”
Barely controlled spinning?
A game paid by the hour?
If we leave this strange algorithm aside, the idea raised by Zelnick is not uninteresting. It seems entirely reasonable to say that The monetary value of many games should be based more on their lifespan than on its graphics or the fame of its franchise. But how can you honestly determine this? Because there is a large theoretical gap between the supposed longevity of the game and the time that players actually spend with it. This is the fundamental difference between a Starfield and a Baldur’s Gate 3 For example.
And how can we increase the prices of games that are already becoming more and more expensive? If GTA 6Had it cost hundreds of dollars because it has very solid multiplayer, it would seem a bit excessive. Not to mention that by this logic, all roguelites in the world should be luxury products. We remember itHades , with a phenomenal lifespan and named Game of the Year at the Game Awards, just soldaround twenty eurosat its start.
And there is no doubt that GTA 6 will be a huge success regardless of the price
Furthermore, if Zelnick claims that a game’s longevity only benefits the player and the publisher loses, he is wrong. Because the most important thing for a video game company today is good the profitability of its shares in the long term . This is why there are so many free games with microtransactions.
In order to stabilize their financial situation, the publisher relies on people continuing to play and pay for their games years after release. And a very high price could even be counterproductive in certain cases. If GTA 5 It was actually profitable for Take-Two, too its sustainability and not its selling price.It therefore seems surprising that the publisher does not acknowledge this.