The cost of buying video games has ballooned in recent years, with GTA 6‘s astonishing $80 Standard Edition as one of the most notorious examples. But given the hype, that price tag could have been even higher, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said on an investor call today. GTA 6‘s $80 base price is unique to Rockstar’s flagship franchise, which also comes with a $100 Ultimate Edition. In the investor call, however, Zelnick said the game brings “phenomenal value” to customers, and that could have justified setting the price much higher. “Our goal is to deliver way more value to consumers than what we charge them,” Zelnick said. “And the truth is, the real cost of a AAA video game is a whole lot lower today than it was 20 years ago. Pricing has not kept pace with inflation.” (thanks, Kotaku). “To say that we expect that GTA 6 will be an incredible bargain as far as experiences go is a gross understatement,” the CEO said. Going by that premise, the value-to-price ratio is supposedly at a point where the $80 is still sound for both the company and its customers. Screenshot via Rockstar Games YouTube “I think that Rockstar feels that offering phenomenal value at $80 makes sense for some consumers. And then offering incremental value at a modestly increased price makes sense for other consumers,” Zelnick said. “And you know, given the hype around this title, I think we could have made any number of other pricing choices.” GTA 6 is one of the most anticipated games in history, and the corporations behind it sure know it. Yesterday, Rockstar announced it would debut an extended look at the game on Netflix, which, unsurprisingly, caught a lot of flak from fans. The video will be exclusive to the streaming platform for six hours but will be available on YouTube after the waiting period ends, which undoubtedly earned Rockstar a pretty penny. And if that wasn’t controversial enough, there’s also the $100 Ultimate Edition with exclusive cars, outfits, and garages and the physical release without a disc. While it’s true the involved parties could have chosen different price tags, what’s unspoken is that this usually leans toward higher prices to the consumer, rather than lower. Sure, they could have tried to set the base edition at $90—but it could also cost $60 or $70, which is in the same range as other AAA games. It’s like saying physical games “don’t really make sense for the consumer” when the corporations actually reap the benefits. Still, GTA 6 reached an unprecedented level of pre-orders, Zelnick added in the call, which means the price point seems to be working. The game releases for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X | S on Nov. 19. 0The post Take-Two CEO calls $80 GTA 6 ‘phenomenal value,’ says they could have made it cost even more ‘given the hype’ appeared first on Destructoid.