Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick quietly confirms the price of Grand Theft Auto VIwhile promising one highly controversial feature will not be a part of it.

In the lead-up to GTA VI’s November 2026 release, many speculated that it would have an unusually high price, with some analysts suggesting it would cost as much as $100. Now, Take-Two has confirmed the title’s price will be in line with a typical AAA game, and fans have plenty more to be excited about it.

Speaking to Christopher Dring for The Game Business, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about in-game advertising in the PC and console gaming space. ‘‘Well, for free-to-play titles, yes. For titles for which you’ve paid 70 or 80 bucks, no,’’ Zelnick stated.

‘‘We have some limited advertising inside games like NBA 2K because that, you know, it fits within the vernacular. You want to see advertising in an arena, in a stadium, because you would if you were there in real life,’’ Zelnick added. When asked about interstitial advertisements in gaming, Zelnick replied, ‘‘Very difficult for me to believe that we would want to have interstitial advertising in a game that someone paid 70 or 80 bucks for would seem unfair.’’

While concerns about advertising in gaming being eschewed were certainly a key point of Zelnick’s conversation with Dring, it was the specific price point that the CEO noted had drawn the most attention. Those statements have been taken by many fans as a tacit confirmation that Grand Theft Auto VI and other major titles that fall under the Take-Two Interactive umbrella will cost roughly $80 when it finally arrives.

Fans have been waiting years for Grand Theft Auto VI, with the game facing numerous delays in that time. Fortunately, fans have also received what seems to be an early glimpse into what the title will have to offer courtesy of 2025’s ‘‘A Safehouse in the Hill’’ update for GTA Online, which introduced a variety of new customization features that are presumably going to return in Grand Theft Auto VI.

Despite all of the hype surrounding Grand Theft Auto VI, Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar aren’t heading towards its release without facing some major hurdles along the way. Among the most controversial issues facing the company today is the ongoing UK court case accusing the company of illegal union busting via firing employees who were either already union members or in the process of organizing their own union.

Alex Marshall, the president of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, said in a statement in mid-March, ‘‘Rockstar has just carried out one of the most blatant and ruthless acts of union busting in the history of the games industry.

This flagrant contempt for the law and for the lives of the workers who bring in their billions is an insult to their fans and the global industry.’’

Rockstar and Take-Two will also have to navigate new laws such as Australia’s Age-Restricted Materials Code, which has received new updates that will force online gamers to verify their age with any given digital platform. 

Gamers and internet users will have to verify their identities online before accessing any R-rated or more explicit materials, with each ‘‘breach of a direction to comply with a code’’ potentially drawing fines as high as AU$49.5 million.

Grand Theft Auto VI is currently slated for release on November 19, 2026. 

Source: CBR
--Agencies