Analyst's $100 GTA VI price prediction did not come true

Michael Pachter, an equity research managing director at Wedbush Securities, used a research note in early March 2025 to argue that Take-Two could charge $100 or more for Grand Theft Auto VI, VGC reported. It was an analyst's forecast for investors, not information from Rockstar or Take-Two.

The argument

Pachter's case leaned on GTA Online. A copy of the new game, he suggested, could come bundled with a large pile of GTA Online currency, which would make a three-figure price easier to swallow. His model was Activision, which puts Warzone and Call of Duty Mobile content in front of each premium Call of Duty release; Pachter credited that link with lifting premium sales by 40%.

He was not the only one floating the number. In January, VGC covered Matthew Ball's yearly industry report, which described hopes that GTA VI would push the default price to $100; VGC added that a $70 standard copy was still the expectation.

How it turned out

Take-Two did not put a number on it at the time. Strauss Zelnick told Variety in May 2025 only that the company wants "to deliver way more value than whatever we charge consumers."

The answer came with the pre-order announcement on June 24, 2026. Take-Two's release priced the standard edition at $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition at $99.99, as Kotaku also reported. The base game stopped short of $100; the top edition sits a cent under it. The editions guide covers what each one includes.