Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders will officially go live at midnight tonight. Ahead of thjis potentially Internet-breaking moment (I’m joking, but only a little) Take-Two Interactive has also finally confirmed what everybody wanted to know: how much Grand Theft Auto VI is actually going to cost.

According to Take-Two’s official announcement, Grand Theft Auto VI will retail for $79.99, while the Ultimate Edition will cost $99.99. They did not confirm other regional pricing, such as here in the UK.

That’s certainly not cheap, but it is perhaps less dramatic than some of the more apocalyptic predictions that have been circulating online. At various points over the last year, analysts, commentators and random people with a Twitter account have suggested Rockstar might charge anything from $90 to $100 or more for the standard edition.

And, well, it turns out my entire fun article about Rockstar potentially undercharging for GTA VI and setting fire to the industry was complete nonsense. Thanks, Rockstar. Gits.

There will be a physical version of the game available, but it won’t contain a disc – just a download code. That version will be available on November 12 to allow users time to pre-load the game ahead of its November 19 release. Likewise, regular digital pre-loading will go live on November 12.

Anyone who pre-orders gets the Vintage Vice City pack, containing:
’55 Vapid Stanier, Ocean Beach garage, vintage-style outfits and hairstyles for Jason and Lucia and weapon patterns inspired by Tommy Vercetti.

As for the Ultimate Edition, click the button below if you want to unleash the full list. I’ve kept it hidden because daaaaaaamn, it’s kind of long.

With all that out of the way, let’s have a chat, because the bigger issue is what happens next.

For years, the industry has argued over whether game prices should rise. One side points out that games are, in many ways, cheaper than they’ve ever been when adjusted for inflation, despite development costs ballooning into the hundreds of millions of dollars. The other side argues that games are already expensive entertainment products and that continually asking players to pay more isn’t a sustainable solution to spiralling budgets. They also point out that a lot of the rising game costs and timelines boils down to problems within the industry.

Whichever side of that debate you sit on, Grand Theft Auto VI launching at $80 is almost guaranteed to reignite the war.

So far, attempts to push the industry towards $80 pricing haven’t exactly gone smoothly. Nintendo sparked controversy when it announced Mario Kart World would cost $80 on Switch 2, while Microsoft attempted a similar move with The Outer Worlds 2 before quickly reversing course and returning the game to the more familiar $70 price point after widespread backlash.

The difference, of course, is that neither of those games is Grand Theft Auto VI. Nor are any of the other hopefuls eyeing up the price-tag.

Rockstar occupies a unique position in the industry. GTA V has sold over 230 million copies, GTA Online became a cultural phenomenon, and GTA VI is arguably the most anticipated entertainment release on the planet. If any company can convince millions of people to pay $80 for a game, it’s Rockstar. Hell, they could probably bump it to $100 and pay would be lining up to the pay with a smile.

The concern for many players isn’t necessarily Grand Theft Auto VI itself. It’s what other publishers will do afterwards. Once one of the biggest games ever released successfully sells for $80, executives across the industry may view that as permission to try the same thing with their own titles, regardless of whether their games command anything close to GTA’s level of aura.