Are we expecting a price shock for video games in 2025? According to analyst Matthew Ball, this is quite possible. In an analysis spanning 219 pages, he looks at the central role of GTA 6. The game could reset price boundaries and possibly lift the gaming industry out of its slump.
Who is the analyst? Matthew Ball is the CEO of Epyllion and specializes in analyzing video games, movies, and TV series. He has written non-fiction books like “Metaverse” and cites statements from major tech figures such as Tim Sweeney, Mark Zuckerberg, or Phil Spencer, who have spoken positively about his work (via matthewball).
The job of an analyst is to inform investors who wish to put money into the market in a way that allows them to make the right decision about which companies to invest in.
GTA 6 could cost up to 100 €
This is what he says now: In an analysis “State of Video Game in 2025“, which spans 219 pages, there is also a passage that discusses the growth of the industry.
Regarding GTA 6, he believes there is a possibility that Take Two could set the price of the game at 80 or even 100 $. This would correspond to a euro price of up to 100 or 110 €.
How does he arrive at this analysis? In the hundreds of slides, Ball discusses an increasingly bleak situation for video games. The games are getting more expensive, there are more and more “Black Hole” games that bind players in such a way that they do not want to buy new games, and the market is saturated. This is evidenced by the numerous layoffs in the gaming sector in recent years.
In one segment, he discusses growth engines
that could drive the industry forward. Here, a higher price through GTA 6 is one of the growth factors he sees. Because alongside Minecraft and PUBG, GTA 5 is one of the great bestsellers
of all time. So there is considerable leverage here.
GTA 6 could allow all companies to charge more for their games
Why is this important? Normally, AAA games cost 70 $, which corresponds to approximately 80 €. Games like Skull and Bones have gone up that high, which was marketed as a AAAA
game by Ubisoft.
If GTA 6 exceeds this price boundary, it would set a precedent that would allow other games to exceed the price threshold of 70 or 80 € and price games fundamentally at around 100 €, with the motto “Our game is also AAA and we want a AAA price.”
If any game could afford to break this price barrier for the first time, it could actually be GTA 6, which is being considered the “next milestone in gaming.” Ball’s thesis sparks a discussion about whether this price increase could “save” the gaming industry.
The belief that GTA 6 could make all video games more expensive was already expressed in mid-2024 by experienced video game developer Michael Douse, who worked on Baldur’s Gate 3. He argued that production costs and inflation had driven prices up: GTA 6 could make all games more expensive, believes a developer from Baldur’s Gate 3
