GTA VI Not Likely to Launch at $100, Ex-Rockstar North Dev Says

Grand Theft Auto VI is unlikely to launch as a $100 USD base game, according to Obbe Vermeij, a former technical director at Rockstar North, pushing back against speculation that the sequel could reset industry pricing. Instead, expectations remain that Rockstar will follow the $70 standard and rely on long-term online revenues to recover development costs.

Vermeij, who worked on GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, and GTA IV during his time at Rockstar North, downplayed the likelihood of a $100 launch price in an exclusive interview with GamesHub.

“Rockstar haven't said anything about $100. This is just something that the internet has decided,” he said, adding that the studio’s priority will be attracting the largest possible player base at launch.

GTA VI Pricing Strategy Likely Linked to Online Revenue

Vermeij said Rockstar’s business model makes a higher upfront price unnecessary, given the expected scale of Grand Theft Auto VI’s online component. 

Rather than increasing the entry cost, the company is expected to lean on post-launch monetization, similar to the long-running success of GTA Online. “They will have a GTA VI online component, and they'll be thinking we want the biggest user base we can possibly have,” he said.

The pricing discussion comes as GTA VI is widely regarded as one of the most expensive video games ever produced, with an estimated development budget of around $2B.

Vermeij said Rockstar is likely to offset these costs through extensive use of AI and procedural generation, particularly to automate repetitive tasks tied to art, animation, asset creation, and crowd scenes.

He noted that artists, many of whom engage in monotonous production work, account for the majority of development costs. Greater use of AI-driven tools could reduce team sizes, improve efficiency, and shorten development timelines. 

If successful, that approach could influence not just GTA VI’s pricing strategy, but broader cost structures and risk tolerance across the AAA games industry.