The cost of console gaming has become significantly more expensive in recent months. Sony hiked the price of PS5 hardware in April, which means a new PS5 now starts at $600, and a PS5 Pro now costs $900. More recently, Sony raised the price of PlayStation Plus, which is required for online gaming. Microsoft, too, has increased the price of the Xbox Series X and S, although it has cut the price of Xbox Game Pass.
GTA 6 is probably the most anticipated video game of all time, and it is expected to break sales records. But it is also coming out on PS5 and Xbox Series X and S only — there is no PC version at launch. This means that you need a modern console to play it, and there will be many who will be looking to buy one for the first time just to play GTA 6 this November.
But could the high cost of a PlayStation or Xbox in 2026 put potential new console gamers off? Could the rising cost of entry limit the potential success of even GTA 6? I put that to Strauss Zelnick, boss of Rockstar parent company Take-Two, ahead of the company’s latest financial results. He dismissed the idea, pointing to a ‘if you build it, they will come’ attitude among consumers, even during economically tough times. But, within that bullishness, Zelnick did express an awareness that consumers are feeling the money pressure.
“In real dollars, the cost of frontline video games has declined materially in the last 30 years,” Zelnick said. “Frontline prices have not gone up very much even in the context of inflation. But from our point of view around here, what we can do to make a difference is always deliver an experience that is so much better than what people pay for, that they’re thrilled to buy our titles. Our job is to make the best entertainment on earth and that’s true across the board.
“If you give people what they want in the entertainment business, they will come out for it. But I am sensitive to the fact that so many people are facing economic challenges.”
