Rockstar

GTA 6

Rockstar has just announced the long-awaited preorder date for Grand Theft Auto 6 ahead of its November 19 release date.

The GTA 6 preorder date is exactly a week from today on Thursday, June 25, five months ahead of release. The announcement has not come with a third trailer for the game, as many were hoping, but Rockstar did reveal the official cover art for GTA 6, assembled in its signature paneled animated style. Here that is:

So, no trailer, but also no indication of any potential preorder bonuses, bundles or the all-important price. There has been widespread speculation about whether, as what is likely to be the biggest consumer product release of all time, Take-Two may decide to increase the price of GTA 6 to $80 or more, up from the industry standard $70. Here’s what Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said about the debate previously:

“Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way way way less of the value delivery,” Zelnick said. “How you feel about something you buy is the intersection of the thing itself and what you pay for. Consumers need to feel like the thing itself is amazing and the price they were charged was fair for what they got.”

“If you look at it through that lens, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But that isn’t the lens through which we look. Instead, we look at… how do we deliver something amazing, and how do we make sure that what people pay for it feels very reasonable.”

Video game development prices have skyrocketed, and unconfirmed estimates about the price of developing GTA 6 could have topped a billion dollars, given its scope and the length of time its been developed. But the fact remains that Take-Two may be satisfied with tens of millions of $70 purchases near launch, not feeling the need to push its luck with a game that already has the weight of the world on its shoulders.

The preorder date would seem to confirm once and for all that yes, GTA 6 is going to hit its November 19 release date after two major delays thus far. It’s a bit too late to back out now, both for gamers and investors. It does seem like it’s time to release another trailer for the game, as this is about when GTA 5 published its third trailer, but nothing yet. It’s possible that could happen on preorder day itself with a good old “preorder now!” message in the closing moments. I am mostly confident that will happen, in fact.

There is, of course, often very little reason to preorder a game in the digital age, where there are not limited copies, and we no longer have to camp outside stores and pray discs don’t sell out. But we’ll see what comes with the announcement and whether Rockstar is making it worth players’ while. The price, however, is what I’m most curious about.

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