The arrival of Grand Theft Auto VI is shaping up as more than just another major game launch. It is the rare cultural event big enough to push people toward buying new hardware specifically to play it — the classic definition of a “system seller.” For many players, GTA may be the main reason they own a console at all, and some have had little reason to upgrade since GTA V. But as anticipation builds, one major obstacle is becoming harder to ignore: the consoles needed to run the game are getting increasingly expensive.
The wait for a new Grand Theft Auto has been unusually long. GTA V debuted in 2013 before expanding across multiple console generations, arriving on PC and becoming a long-running juggernaut thanks in large part to its online mode. It is widely regarded as one of the most profitable entertainment releases ever. That legacy has created enormous expectations for GTA VI, whose hype is difficult to compare with almost any other game. Set to launch November 19th on PS5 and Xbox Series X / S, the release is expected to be so dominant that rival publishers are reportedly trying to avoid launching too close to it.
When Rockstar first confirmed in 2022 that the next entry was in development, the console market looked very different. Sony’s PlayStation 5 originally launched at $499.99 for the standard model, but after two price increases, that version now costs $649.99. Players considering the more powerful PS5 Pro — potentially appealing for a demanding open-world game like GTA VI — are looking at $899.99. Microsoft has also raised prices on its current-generation systems three times since 2025. The entry-level Xbox Series S is now $499.99, while the higher-end Xbox Series X reaches $799.99. In both cases, the consoles are now hundreds of dollars more expensive than they were at launch.
Those increases run counter to the long-held belief that early adopters pay the highest price and patient buyers eventually benefit from discounts. Instead, console prices have climbed over time. That matters especially for GTA VI. Rockstar opened preorders this week, a move that suggests another delay is increasingly unlikely. For anyone who still needs to buy a PS5 or Xbox Series console to play it, the cost of entry could be a shock. Spending more than $600 — and in many cases much more — to experience a single game may force some fans to reconsider, while others may decide to wait and hope prices eventually come down.
Image: Rockstar Games
GTA VI faces other launch-related concerns as well. Its $79.99 price tag is higher than the standard cost of many games, and the physical edition has drawn criticism because it does not actually include a disc. Still, issues like those may be easier for a blockbuster of this scale to absorb. The much larger challenge could be the rising price of the hardware required to play it.
The numbers illustrate the problem. GTA V has sold an extraordinary 230 million copies across PC, PS3, PS4, PS5 and three generations of Xbox consoles. Even if every current PS5 and Xbox Series X / S owner bought GTA VI, the game would still fall far short of that total. Sony’s PS5 install base is slightly above 90 million, while Microsoft is estimated to have sold around 30 million current-generation Xbox consoles. Those are significant audiences, but with hardware prices rising, it is unclear how much larger they can become. PS5 sales have already been hit hard by the new pricing.
There is little indication that relief is coming soon. In announcing its latest price increases, Microsoft said “console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027.” A PC release for GTA VI is widely expected eventually, but that may not solve the affordability issue. Component prices have also made powerful gaming PCs more expensive, with Valve’s Steam Machine starting at $1,049. For players who do not already own compatible hardware, the next Grand Theft Auto could be a very costly game to access.
Even if it doesn’t match the initial success of its predecessor, which earned a billion dollars in just three days, GTA VI will undoubtedly still be a massive hit. Few things are actually too big to fail, but GTA VI might be one of them. These games also tend to have a long tail — people are still buying GTA V more than a decade later — so there’s lots of time to reach its full audience. But the dire situation around modern video game consoles is still severely limiting how many people can play the game when it launches. The wait hasn’t just been long. It’s also going to be very expensive.
