Take-Two Boss Strauss Zelnick has confirmed that more gamers are pre-ordering the Ultimate Edition of Rockstar’s upcoming GTA 6.
The long-awaited open world game, which releases later this year on November 19th, releases without a disc version and locks a number of in-game shops behind its Ultimate Edition. The $100 version, despite some online backlash, is selling remarkably well.
Speaking to CNBC TV, via IGN, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick explained that sales numbers are “skewing more to the premium edition” with more players opting to shell out $100 for the game’s additional content.
With that said, Zelnick did explain that this is likely due to the fact that early adopters and hardcore fans are the most likely to pre-order a game in the first place. Despite having no true physical version, GTA 6 is already the most pre-ordered game of all time with fans pushing to lock in their purchase early.
Zelnick argued that sales “might be a reflection that the most avid consumers are the ones who are pre-ordering now”. Unlike prior GTAs, Take-Two has not confirmed any form of Collector’s Edition for the upcoming open world game.
Prior to its official price announcement, it was suggested that GTA 6 would be the game industry’s first $100 game. While the game does have a standard $80 version, which is still more expensive than traditional releases, many have argued that the game’s true version is actually its $100 Ultimate Edition due to the amount of content locked off from standard players.
In the CNBC TV discussion, Zelnick also hinted that GTA 6 will stay at or near its retail price for a significant amount of time. When asked about the possibility of sales around Black Friday and Christmas, the CEO explained that “storefronts can do what they wish”. He added: “I will tell you we preserved our pricing on Grand Theft Auto V for a very long time, much longer than a standard release of an entertainment property”.
For fans of the game series, GTA 6 will likely remain at a fairly high price point for a number of years, especially as Rockstar’s PC version won’t release until some time after the game’s Xbox and PlayStation release.
