GTA 6 probably won't cost $100, former Rockstar technical director says

Obbe Vermeij, a former technical director at Rockstar North, told GameHub that Rockstar is unlikely to sell GTA 6 at a $100 retail price. Vermeij argues the studio will want as many players as possible for the game’s online component and will focus on post-launch monetization instead.

The $100 rumor comes from how expensive GTA 6’s development reportedly has been. Vermeij agrees the game will be a major-budget title, and he thinks those costs will be recovered over time rather than by inflating the boxed price. He also told GameHub that much of future production cost will be tied to artists and motion capture work, and that procedural generation and AI-style tools could cut down those expenses. “The main component of cost is artists. That’s maybe 70% of the cost of a game,” Vermeij said, and he suggested AI-driven techniques could handle some of the repetitive workload.

This approach would let Rockstar launch GTA 6 at a familiar price point while relying on a robust live-economy to fund the project long term. That model lines up with how GTA Online currently generates revenue through in-game purchases and premium properties – an angle CPG has previously looked at when covering expensive virtual real estate in GTA Online’s latest updates, like the A Safehouse in the Hills additions.

For more on how pricey GTA Online homes can get, see our piece about high-end properties and their real-money equivalents here.

Vermeij’s comments don’t settle every question about GTA 6. They do, however, push back against the idea that Rockstar will force a higher sticker price on day one and instead point toward a long tail of online sales and microtransactions as the revenue plan.

Follow coverage of GTA 6 and related updates on X, Bluesky, YouTube, and Instagram.

Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.