A Bank of America stock analyst has declared at the IICON gaming conference in Las Vegas that Grand Theft Auto 6 should and will cost $80 — not to gouge fans, but to prevent other AAA publishers from struggling to sell their own $70 titles. The analyst argues Take-Two has a strategic interest in raising the industry price floor with the most anticipated game ever made.
Part 1
There's a lot of talk about Grand Theft Auto VI at IICON, the new executive-focused video game conference in Las Vegas being put on by the Entertainment Software Association. Most of that talk is understandably coming from Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, or from other gaming executives. But it's also coming from, apparently, Bank of America, with a stock analyst for the bank declaring, after speaking to attendees at IICON, that GTA 6 should and will cost $80, so that other AAA companies don't have trouble selling their own games.
Part 2
This comes from Bank of America stock analyst Omar Dessouky, who said (per Seeking Alpha) that his team heard from attendees that the industry, which is perceived as struggling, would have difficulty selling games for $80 if GTA 6 came out at $70. We think it's in Take-Two's self-interest, as a publisher and partner to many developers, to raise the price point for the entire industry.
Part 3
What Dessouky is suggesting is that GTA 6 will be such a big game that if it released at $70, all other $70 games would suddenly feel like a terrible deal by comparison — which makes some sense if GTA 6 is indeed as massive as suggested. Also, in addition to it being in Take-Two and the wider industry's best interest, Dessouky suggests this will happen because the price of games relative to inflation has fallen over time, making $80 a reasonable ask.