Warhorse Studios co-founder Martin Klima wants GTA 6 to push game prices up, and he thinks Rockstar Games is the only publisher bold enough to try it. Speaking to PC Gamer, Klima argued that the $80 price tag for the next Grand Theft Auto could finally break the industry’s fear of raising costs.
“We destroyed retail, and we took all their money,” Klima said. “Now, hopefully, GTA will blaze the trail, and it will allow us to increase the cost.”
The Cost of Development
Klima’s reasoning starts with the economics of building a modern game. He told PC Gamer that the cost of game development has ballooned wildly in recent years, while the audience that regularly buys new games has somewhat peaked. Digital storefronts have cut out the middleman of retail, leaving publishers with fewer ways to make money.
The solution, Klima believes, is simple: raise the price. “The last thing you can do is to increase the unit price,” he said. “That would help a lot, but everybody’s scared to death about it.”
He singled out Rockstar Games and its parent company Take-Two as the companies best positioned to lead the charge. According to Klima, Rockstar and Take-Two are the last ones “who can afford, or who can dare, to increase the price of games, which I think is long overdue and also necessary for this business to survive. So I wish them all the luck.”
GTA 6’s Price in Detail
GTA 6 is priced similarly to many other high-end triple-A games in the UK, where the Standard Edition costs £69.99. In the US, the situation looks different. The Standard Edition sells for $79.99, about $10 more expensive than most blockbuster games not called Mario Kart World.
The Ultimate Edition goes further, topping out at $99.99.
What Happens If Prices Go Up
There is no guarantee players will accept an $80 price tag for any game. Last year, Xbox tried to launch The Outer Worlds 2 for $80 before backing down and selling the sci-fi satire for the usual $70.
If GTA 6 succeeds, the ripple effect could be significant. A successful $80 launch would show that the market can bear higher prices, which could encourage other publishers to follow. If it fails, the lesson is the opposite.
Klima is betting on the former. He is not interested in playing GTA 6 himself, but he is rooting for the broader trend it represents. “I am not going to be playing GTA 6 unless I’m somehow forced to,” he added. “And the reason why it is so popular – it beats me. It’s something which I just fail to understand.”
“I am not going to be playing GTA 6 unless I’m somehow forced to.”
Why Klima Is Not Playing
Klima’s admission that he will not play GTA 6 unless forced is the kind of honesty that makes this story entertaining. He is a co-founder of Warhorse Studios, the developer behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and he is happy that “somebody is making these games that are really technologically marvels.”
But he does not want to touch the game himself. His reasons are blunt: he simply does not understand why it is so popular. That disconnect is part of what makes his support for the price hike so amusing. He wants GTA 6 to succeed financially while remaining uninterested in the actual product.
The Timing of GTA 6
GTA 6 launches on 19 November for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
The release also comes with some controversy. The game might be the first GTA to feature full-on sex scenes. At the same time, Rockstar is in the middle of an employment tribunal in Scotland after being accused of union-busting by a group of fired workers.
The outcome of that case remains unresolved.
Those issues could complicate the launch, but Klima is focused on the bigger picture. He sees GTA 6 as the kind of game that can change the industry’s pricing norms, even if he does not plan to play it.
The Industry’s Pricing Problem
Klima’s argument rests on a few key points:
- The cost of making games has risen sharply.
- The number of people buying new games regularly has stopped growing.
- Digital storefronts have removed the profit margin that retailers once provided.
That leaves publishers with a limited set of options. They can cut costs, which is difficult with rising development expenses. They can add microtransactions, which Klima seems to reject. Or they can raise the base price.
Klima believes the industry has been avoiding that last option for too long. He calls the price hike “long overdue,” and he frames it as necessary for the business to survive. His hope is that Rockstar’s willingness to raise prices will embolden others to follow.
What Comes Next
GTA 6 launches on 19 November, and the industry will be watching closely. If the game sells well at $80, other publishers will likely follow. If it stumbles, the $80 precedent could weaken quickly.
Klima’s position is clear: he wants GTA 6 to succeed, but he does not need to play it to see the value. The game’s popularity is a mystery to him, but its potential to reshape pricing is not.
The next few months will tell whether the industry follows Rockstar’s lead or backs away from the $80 threshold. Klima is betting on the former, and he is happy to let Rockstar take the risk.
Source material: “Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 boss hopes GTA 6 pushes game prices up because it's "long overdue and also necessary for this business to survive",” Eurogamer.
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