Rockstar Games is stirring things up by quietly jacking up prices for some of their classic games like Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption on the PlayStation Store. Fans first caught wind of this on Reddit, noticing that Red Dead Redemption and its sequel got hit with price bumps—some as high as £10 ($13) for the original and £5 ($6.50) for Red Dead Redemption 2 in the UK. Even the bundle with both games got pricier.
What started as a few random reports from places like the UK and Brazil turned out to be a bigger deal, with price changes rolling out since April across multiple countries. It’s a mixed bag, though—some places like Japan, Sweden, Norway, and South Africa are paying more, while others, like Mexico, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, are seeing discounts on certain versions. For example, in the Czech Republic, Xbox versions got cheaper, but PlayStation prices were already lower.
GTA V, a game that’s been around since 2013, wasn’t spared either. Both the main game and Grand Theft Auto Online now cost more in many regions, which is weird for a game that old—usually, prices drop over time, not go up. This comes right after GTA V Expanded and Enhanced was on PlayStation Plus and is still available on Xbox and PC Game Pass.
Normally, older games get cheaper, especially with sales, but Rockstar’s doing the opposite. Some fans think this could be a sneaky test to see how much people are willing to pay before Grand Theft Auto 6 drops next year. Others reckon it’s a ploy to make future discounts look like a steal. There’s also talk that Rockstar’s cashing in on new players diving into their older games as hype builds for their next big release.
No official word from Rockstar yet on why they’re doing this or if the price hikes are here to stay. If they are, GTA 6 might cost more than $80. For now, PC players can check out the NaturalVision Enhanced mod to make GTA V look almost as good as GTA 6. Also, Take-Two, Rockstar’s parent company, is looking to raise cash by selling a billion in stocks and recently dropped mentions of its former DEI efforts in financial reports.
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