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Earlier this year, Dell rebooted the legendary Alienware Area-51 lineup of prebuilt gaming PCs, but until recently you could only configure it with one graphics card option – the RTX 5080. That’s no longer the case. Starting now, you can choose to equip your Alienware Area-51 with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU and – finally – an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU starting at $5,499.99. Better yet, you won’t have to wait months for your system to arrive; Dell estimates an early April ship date.

Alienware Area-51 RTX 5090 Prebuilt Gaming PCs Are Available

It’s official: The Nintendo Switch 2 is coming very soon. June 5, to be exact! Following a lengthy Nintendo Direct that showed off new games for the highly-anticipated console alongside more information on the Switch 2 hardware itself, some items are starting to go up for preorder. This includes microSD Express cards, which are the only storage cards the Switch 2 will be compatible with.

Preorder MicroSD Express Cards at GameStop

One of the biggest surprises of the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct this week was its exclusive FromSoftware reveal, The Duskbloods. It’s a PvPvE game developed by the Soulsborne studio, but director Hidetaka Miyazaki said this doesn’t mean the company has shifted direction moving forward.

In a new interview with Nintendo, Miyazaki spoke about the decision to make The Duskbloods a PvPvE game. The director said he’s “always found” the structure interesting, as it allows for a broad range of game-design ideas while also letting FromSoftware leverage its experience in designing challenging enemy encounters.

“As a side note, please allow me to address one thing,” Miyazaki said. “As we previously mentioned, this is an online multiplayer title at its core, but this doesn’t mean that we as a company have decided to shift to a more multiplayer-focused direction with titles going forward.”

He continued: “The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Elden Ring was also announced, and we still intend to actively develop single-player focused games such as this that embrace our more traditional style.”

Since the release of Elden Ring in February 2022, FromSoftware has certainly experimented a bit. Its DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, tried out some interesting new power scaling methods in the form of Scadutree Blessings. There’s also Elden Ring: Nightreign, an upcoming co-op survival action game that blends the usual Souls style with an encroaching storm, loot, and character archetypes. The studio even went back to its mecha days with Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon.

So with The Duskbloods, FromSoftware is trying something a little different again. In the interview, Miyazaki said the company’s outline for The Duskbloods was “still very bare-bones” when the team presented it to Nintendo — “more a loose string of ideas than a proper presentation,” and the concept was “different from anything [FromSoftware] had done before.”

Nintendo was interested in making it happen though, and while a small team started the project for the original Switch, Nintendo approached FromSoft with the idea of moving to the Switch 2 instead. “The new hardware’s focus on online features allowed us to stay as true to the original vision as possible, which was very good news for us,” Miyazaki said.

So while The Duskbloods might be a little different from the usual FromSoftware game, it sounds like the studio isn’t completely leaving the “traditional” style you’d expect behind. Put differently: let FromSoft cook on this one.

But what could FromSoft’s next single-player focused game be? Miyazaki has said the developer is not currently considering making Elden Ring 2, but late last year left the door open to the possibility in the future. It’s probably not Bloodborne 2, either, much to the frustration of fans.

For more on the Nintendo Switch 2, check out our round-up of everything announced at the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct this week, and read over our recent chat with analysts about the sticker-shock of both the Switch 2 console and some of its games.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

Amid the ongoing backlash to Nintendo’s shock pricing for the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World, two former Nintendo PR managers have described the situation as “a true crisis moment for Nintendo.”

Speaking in a video on their YouTube channel, former Nintendo of America PR managers Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang criticized Nintendo for the way it revealed the $449.99 price of the Switch 2 and the $79.99 price of Mario Kart World.

“I don’t want to blow things out of proportion, but this does feel like a true crisis moment for Nintendo,” Ellis said.

Mario Kart World isn’t the only Nintendo Switch 2 game to cost $79.99. Some Nintendo Switch 2 Edition titles, such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, also cost $79.99.

Nintendo has even come under fire for charging for the Switch 2 tutorial video game experience, Welcome Tour, which fans have said should be a free pack-in. Astro’s Playroom, for example, comes pre-installed on every PlayStation 5 console, serving additionally as a free tech demo for the DualSense controller.

Anger at the pricing has even spilled over into Nintendo’s Treehouse livestreams, which are overrun with viewers spamming “DROP THE PRICE” in the chat.

Ellis and Yang were particularly critical of the way Nintendo revealed the price of the Switch 2 and its games. They pointed to the lack of a price in the Direct itself as a “deliberate” omission that caused confusion and misinformation as fans scrambled to find out pricing confirmation elsewhere.

The Switch 2 and Mario Kart World pricing was “intentionally omitted from the Direct for a reason,” Yang claimed, “but handled poorly in terms of the information being in all these different places and you’re expecting the fans or the consumer to piece it all together.”

Ellis added: “It just shows some disrespect to the consumer, where, ‘oh, you just saw the Direct you’re so excited, you’re just gonna throw your money at us blindly, you’re not going to even ask the question of how much it cost because you’re so excited, aren’t you?’ “

“It’s a little bit degrading almost to the intelligence of the consumer,” Yang said.

The former NOA communications staff then went on to discuss Nintendo’s failure to address the pricing concern, either with a public statement or in interviews with the press. This, they said, was causing rampant speculation to fill the void with misinformation.

“They are enabling the story to get out of hand, out of control,” Yang said. “They have lost control of this,” Ellis added.

So what went wrong? Ellis and Yang suggested Nintendo now lacks the consumer mindfulness it once had, following former NOA boss Reggie Fils-Aimé’s retirement and the tragic loss of former Nintendo head Satoru Iwata.

Nintendo’s communications team will now be recommending the company release an official statement, Yang said, but the approval process will be painful, with many people involved before it even gets to current Nintendo boss Shuntaro Furukawa.

Nintendo will also be out of practice because it hasn’t spoken to its community or press in such a long time, the pair said, nor has it had to deal with this sort of negativity since the Nintendo 3DS price debacle of 2011.

Now there is concern for staff manning demo stations at the public-facing Switch 2 hands-on sessions. Fans will have reasonable questions at these public events and might put those to staff who are manning demo stations. If they respond with any sort of answer, that could end up online and framed as Nintendo’s official response.

What happens next? It remains to be seen, but neither Ellis nor Yang expect a price drop of either the Switch 2 or its games before launch.

For more, check out everything announced at the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct, and what the experts have to say about the Switch 2 price and Mario Kart World’s $80 price tag.

Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

inZOI has sold 1 million copies in a week, developer and publisher Krafton has announced. That’s the fastest sales milestone ever for a game published by the South Korean megacorp.

Krafton’s The Sims competitor launched on PC via Steam in Early Access form on March 28 and quickly hit the headlines after players discovered they could run over and kill children. Krafton responded to say it had patched out what it called an “unintended bug.”

Despite this hiccup, inZOI has a ‘very positive’ user review rating on Steam, and saw a peak of 175,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch, ranking third in the Games category. It rose to number one on Steam’s Global Top Sellers List (by sales revenue) just 40 minutes after release.

Meanwhile, Canvas, inZOI’s in-game user-generated content (UGC) sharing platform, saw over 1.2 million “participants” on launch day, and over 470,000 pieces of content uploaded.

IGN’s inZOI Early Access review returned a 6/10. We said: “inZOI is a visually striking life simulator with plenty of ambition, but not enough depth as of its Early Access launch.”

Clearly, inZOI is doing the business for Krafton, which highlighted its work promoting the game ahead of launch and its communication with the community as helping to build trust and momentum for release. The inZOI global showcase and demo build “particularly attracted high interest,” Krafton added.

CEO CH Kim commented: “We are grateful and excited to present inZOI to players around the world through Early Access. We will continue to actively communicate with players and foster inZOI as Krafton’s long-term franchise IP.”

As for what’s next, Krafton said future updates will introduce new content, including mod support and new cities, with all updates and DLC provided for free until full release.

In a recent note to players, Krafton said it will “quickly” apply fixes for reported issues through hotfixes during April amid complaints from some players about the state of the game. The scale of inZOI’s global community is “a next-level experience for us,” Krafton said, before admitting it’s “going through some trial and error in finding the optimal means of communication.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Nintendo has confirmed some of its Switch 2 game sizes, and, thankfully, they’re relatively small.

The Japanese My Nintendo Store lists a number of Switch 2 games alongside their file sizes.

The Nintendo Switch 2 features 256 GB of internal storage, which is a significant upgrade on the 32 GB available on the OG Switch and Switch Lite and the 64 GB on the Switch – OLED Model.

Another big difference is that the Switch 2 requires microSD Express cards for up to 2 TB of extra storage, meaning the microSDXC cards the current Switch models support cannot transfer over to the new console.

But, based on the file sizes revealed on the Japanese store, that 256 GB of internal storage should keep most players going for a while.

Nintendo Switch 2 game storage sizes:

• Mario Kart World: 23.4 GB
• Donkey Kong Bananza: 10 GB
• Nintendo Classics: GameCube app: 3.5 GB
• Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition ＋ Jamboree TV: 7.7 GB
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition ＋ Star Crossed World: 5.7 GB

The biggest file size here is, as you’d expect, Mario Kart World, but at 23.4 GB it only takes up around 10% of the Switch 2’s total internal storage.

Mario Kart World is relatively slim compared to the beefy Cyberpunk 2077, which weighs in at 64 GB on Nintendo Switch 2. That’s a chunky 25% of the Switch 2’s internal storage.

Nintendo also recently confirmed that several new Switch 2 game cards won’t always carry an actual game, but instead contain a key for a game download. This isn’t the case for Cyberpunk 2077, though.

For context, one of the biggest games on the original Switch, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, was just 16 GB.

It’s worth noting that the GameCube app’s size is expected to grow as new games are added to the library. At launch, the GameCube app contains The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, and SoulCalibur 2.

So, how is the Nintendo Switch 2 able to get away with relatively small game sizes while offering up to 4K resolution?

In January, the internet spotted a Nintendo patent, filed July 2023 but published for the first time earlier this year, that described AI image upscaling technology that would help keep video game download sizes small enough to fit on a physical game cartridge while offering up to 4K textures. It was thought at the time that this applied to the Nintendo Switch 2, and could relate to Nvidia DLSS graphics technology.

Nvidia DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is an AI-powered technology that uses machine learning to upscale lower-resolution images in real-time, enhancing both performance and image quality in games.

This week, in the wake of the Nintendo Direct, Nintendo and Nvidia confirmed the Switch 2’s custom GPU enables AI upscaling via DLSS and ray tracing.

Nvidia described it as a “custom Nvidia processor featuring an Nvidia GPU with dedicated RT Cores and Tensor Cores for stunning visuals and AI-driven enhancements.”

Those upgrades include up to 4K gaming in TV mode and up to 120 FPS at 1080p in handheld mode. Nintendo Switch 2 also supports HDR, and AI upscaling “to sharpen visuals and smooth gameplay.”

The new RT Cores bring real-time ray tracing, delivering “lifelike lighting, reflections and shadows for more immersive worlds,” Nvidia continued.

Tensor Cores, meanwhile, power AI-driven features like DLSS, “boosting resolution for sharper details without sacrificing image quality.”

Details are thin on the ground, however. In a hardware-focused roundtable Q&A in New York this week, attended by IGN, Nintendo representatives confirmed the Switch 2 uses DLSS, but did not specify which version of the tech, or whether it had been customized for Switch 2. It was a similarly vague response when Nintendo confirmed the Switch 2’s GPU is capable of ray tracing.

And what about the GPU itself? Tetsuya Sasaki, General Manager at Nintendo’s Technology Development Division, and Senior Director at its Technology Development Department, chimed in to say Nintendo prefers not to get in the weeds on things like the GPU.

“Nintendo doesn’t share too much on the hardware spec,” he said. “What we really like to focus on is the value that we can provide to our consumers. But I do believe that our partner Nvidia will be sharing some information.”

For more, check out everything announced at the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct, and what the experts have to say about the Switch 2 price and Mario Kart World’s $80 price tag.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Remember Marathon? It’s Destiny developer Bungie’s next game, and it looks like we’re about to finally see more of it.

Marathon is a PvP-focused extraction shooter set on the mysterious planet of Tau Ceti IV. Players inhabit the bodies of Runners, cybernetic mercenaries who have been designed to survive the planet’s harsh environments, exploring the lost colony that once inhabited Tau Ceti’s surface.

It has been some time since we saw or heard of Marathon. In October, Bungie released a lengthy development update video that shed light on Marathon’s mechanics, but stressed how early in development the game was. Player character models were, at that point, still “coming together,” while enemy models were still in an “early state.”

Now, though, half a year later, it looks like Bungie is finally ready to reveal what it’s been working on. A tweet from the official Marathon account, below, revealed a typically cryptic image and accompanying garbled signal noise. As fans have noticed, there’s ASCII art of footage from the debut Marathon trailer. Given this is Bungie we’re talking about, a developer known for its mysterious teasers, hidden clues, and Easter eggs, there’s probably much more here to discover, and fans are already working to find out what it all means.

Either way, it very much looks like it’s finally happening for Marathon after what has been a troubled development.

pic.twitter.com/6NBgIdRVK2

— Marathon (@MarathonTheGame) April 4, 2025

Marathon was revealed in May 2023 as a reboot of the classic Bungie franchise, but with all its themes of “mysteries, eeriness, and psychological creepiness.” But Bungie itself has suffered several controversies in recent years, headlined by the laying off of 220 staff members, meaning 17% of its workforce, in July 2024: a move even industry peers criticized.

This came less than a year after 100 other layoffs at Bungie, at which point staff told IGN the atmosphere was “soul crushing” at the studio.

Further controversy came when a report released weeks after the 220 job losses alleging former Marathon director Chris Barrett was fired after an internal misconduct investigation at Bungie. Barrett subsequently sued Sony Interactive Entertainment and Bungie for more than $200 million.

This all comes as Sony rethinks its focus on live-service games. Sony president Hiroki Totoki said in November 2023 the company was committed to launching just six of the 12 live service games it was working on by March 2026, in a shift in strategy that saw The Last of Us multiplayer game cancelled.

While Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2 was a breakout hit, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game of all time with 12 million copies sold in just 12 weeks, Sony’s other live service games were either canceled or suffered disastrous launches.

Indeed, Sony’s Concord is one of the biggest video game disasters in PlayStation history, lasting just a couple of weeks before it was brought offline amid eye-wateringly low player numbers. Sony later decided to kill the game entirely and shut its developer.

And earlier this year, Sony reportedly canceled two unannounced live service games, one a God of War title in development at Bluepoint, the other in the works at Days Gone developer Bend.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

When the Nintendo Switch 2’s $450 USD price was announced it turned heads given this is a bigger sticker price then we’ve come to expect from Nintendo in the past. However, with the rise in production costs and other economic uncertainties like tariffs, analysts did predict the Switch 2 to cost around $400 USD at least.

Maybe the bigger shock was around the cost of Switch 2 games, which not only hit the new $70 USD standard for new games but also go as high as $80 in the case of games like Mario Kart World. Add in the additional cost of the various accessories if you want the full Switch 2 experience and it all totals a hefty sum.

But if you adjust the launch cost of previous Nintendo consoles for inflation, how does Switch 2 stack up? And how does the Switch 2 price also compare to other consoles? The results might surprise you…

Nintendo Switch 2 Price Vs Previous Nintendo Consoles

NES

The NES was released in 1985 and was sold for $179 USD at launch. That sounds like a bargain these days, but if you adjust the cost for inflation it would set you back $523 USD in 2025. Woof!

SNES

Nintendo followed it up in 1991 with the SNES, which at the time cost $199 USD. It was $20 dollars more back then but taking into account the additional inflation between the two launch years, it would cost $460 USD in 2025.

Nintendo 64

Nintendo’s big 3D revolution came when the Nintendo 64 was released in 1996, which came in at the same $199 price point as the SNES. However that’s $400 USD in today’s terms after adjustments for inflation.

Nintendo GameCube

The Nintendo GameCube, whose games will be available on the Switch 2 through the Nintendo Switch Online’s classic library, hit the shelves in 2001 for $199 or $359 USD in today’s dollars.

Wii

Nintendo’s bold next step after the GameCube was the motion-controlled Wii which went on to become a global phenomenon. In 2006, the Wii hit shelves at $249 USD or about $394 USD in 2025.

Wii U

Nintendo wasn’t as successful with its follow-up the Wii U. It was released in 2012 for $299 USD at launch or $415 USD in 2025, making it closer to the Switch 2’s pricing.

Nintendo Switch

Nintendo found its groove again with the Nintendo Switch, which will go down as one of Nintendo’s most-successful consoles of all time. The system hit stores in 2017 – nearly eight years ago – and retailed for $299 USD, or $387 USD in today’s dollars, so still cheaper than Switch 2 when it hits the shelves on June 5.

So there you have it, the original NES is the most expensive console Nintendo has ever launched if you adjust prices for inflation. Does that make Switch 2’s price any easier to swallow? Absolutely not.

Despite Nintendo’s official UK preorders not starting until April 8 (and April 9 in the US), major retailers including Amazon, Currys (in-store), Argos, and Smyths have already gone live with preorders for the Nintendo Switch 2. Amazon UK, which had previously been accepting invite requests, has now started sending out its first wave of invitations, giving select customers the chance to secure a console ahead of launch. If you’ve registered your interest, now is the time to check your inbox.

Amazon is still accepting preorder requests for Switch 2 and the Switch 2 Mario Kart World Bundle, and will continue to send out invitations until June 5. Unlike Nintendo’s own system, Amazon’s invites aren’t based on playtime, and not all requests will be approved. Any invite link sent out will also expire after 22 hours, so securing a preorder quickly is crucial. We’ve left handy links to find the console preorders below.

Argos had plenty of stock available to preorder on April 3, but is now temporarily out of stock and pausing orders. There’s still a chance of the retailer being allocated more, so if you don’t get your invite in through Amazon, stay tuned for more updates. Otherwise, ensure you’re also following @IGNUKDeals on Twitter/X for instant notifications.

As for the games, you can immediately preorder the physical version of Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza right now at Smyths—alongside accessories like the Nintendo Switch 2 camera & Stealth Travel Kit case.

On each product Amazon page, you’ll be able to quickly register your interest before quickly getting a confirmation email. From then, you can be invited to purchase a Nintendo Switch 2 from Amazon UK anytime within the next three months—covering you for the system’s 5th of June, 2025 release date.

The link to purchase that Amazon will send to you will last for 22 hours, so be sure to keep checking your emails so you don’t miss out. Amazon hasn’t provided an exact day and time as to when the first round of pre-orders will start, but we’re assuming the first invites could be sent out as soon as Tuesday, the April 8, as that’s when preorders will be open on the UK Nintendo store.

You can also go to Currys and register your interest in a Nintendo Switch 2 just like you can with Smyths, though preorders for games and accessories don’t seem to be available just yet. It hasn’t provided any further information on when invites will be sent out either, but Currys & Smyths are both solid retailers to have as a back-up if you don’t get an Argos pre-order in or an Amazon invite right away.

Compared to the Nintendo Store, however, Amazon’s, Currys’, and Smyths conditions appear to be a lot more relaxed for sending Switch 2 preorder invites.

For example, the Nintendo store will only send initial invitees to those based on conditions like being a Nintendo Switch Online player for a continuous two years before 31/3/2025, having higher playtimes with purchased/paid Nintendo Switch games (not free-to-play games like Fortnite, it seems), and opting in to share usage information with Nintendo.

On Amazon’s side, it merely seems to be a ballot system where invitees are selected at random. With Currys and Smyths, it looks like it will simply be a case of sending out an email when pre-orders are opened, followed by a queued ordering system. This was the method Currys used when taking PS5 pre-orders, and it worked without any site crashes at least.

This means you could be in for a longer wait from these alternative retailers, but it’s a lot less frustrating if you’re certain you don’t meet the strict requirements to order from Nintendo directly.

On the other hand, if you weren’t planning to have the funds for your Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order taken until near-dispatch in June—which is usually the case for retailers like Amazon—Argos may not be the best option for you since we have confirmed you’ll need to pay right away.

Still, if you’ve already got the money necessary, Argos is currently the best option to secure your pre-order immediately.

With Mario Kart World cruising its way onto store shelves at $80, Nintendo fans who were otherwise stoked about the promise of the Nintendo Switch 2 have spent the last 24 hours balking at the prospect of doling out that many coins, even for a game they feel is a must-have.

We wrote earlier today about why Mario Kart World, as well as the Nintendo Switch 2 itself and many of its accessories, are so dang expensive. But knowing the “why” of it doesn’t really ease the pain on the wallet. What’s more, we learned just this morning that a number of Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Kirby and the Forgotten Land, will also be $80. And with the AAA game price increase from $60 to $70 still firmly within recent memory, fans are now worried that more and more games, Nintendo or otherwise, are going to start getting more and more and more expensive.

So what does the future hold? Are $80 games the new Nintendo normal?

As usual, rather than speculate ourselves, we went and found some expert analysts to tell us what they think is going to happen.

A New Nintendo Normal

NYU Stern professor and author of SuperJoost Playlist, Joost van Dreunen, believes Nintendo is using Mario Kart World as a “test case for premium pricing,” and will evaluate consumer response before applying this more broadly. Spoilers: the response hasn’t been great so far! But sentiment is not the same as sales, and Nintendo will likely measure success by how well Mario Kart World actually sells.

“If the $80 price point succeeds, Nintendo will likely extend it selectively to their most valuable franchises rather than making it standard across their first-party lineup. Franchises that could potentially justify the premium pricing include:

• The Legend of Zelda – the next mainline entry following Tears of the Kingdom could command $80 given the series’ prestige and the expansive scope these games typically offer.
• New 3D Mario adventures – for major releases in the vein of Super Mario Odyssey, Nintendo could position these as premium products.
• Super Smash Bros. – the next installment of this franchise would be a strong candidate for premium pricing due to its extensive roster and competitive staying power.

“Games that likely wouldn’t justify the premium price include smaller-scale entries, remasters, and series with more niche appeal. Nintendo will probably maintain a tiered pricing strategy, with their tent-pole franchises at $80, mid-tier releases at $60-70, and smaller titles at traditional price points.”

Rhys Elliott, games analyst at Alinea Analytics, had a similar take, pointing to the top 10 best-selling Nintendo Switch games as a guide for what we might see get an $80 price tag in the future. “I could see Nintendo pricing mainline Pokémon games, mainline Zelda games, and the inevitably imminent 3D Mario and Animal Crossing games at $80 physical (but $70 digital still).”

And James McWhirter, analyst at Omdia, added a suggested hypothetical Splatoon 4 to the list of possibilities, along with another thought on future monetization:

“For titles that do not adopt the $80 base price, Nintendo could lean in more heavily in alternative forms of monetisation, including those it has so far refrained from using, such as tying paid early access to higher value editions of its games.”

Grand Theft, Grand Price?

That covers Nintendo, but what about other games? Earlier this year, we covered a flurry of speculation on one specifically: Grand Theft Auto 6. At the time, we were responding to rumors and discussion that Take-Two might price the sequel to the over 200 million selling blockbuster at $80, $90, or even $100. Analysts suggested that the high end of this was rather unlikely, but what about now? Will Grand Theft Auto 6 cost $80… or even more?

Tiago Reis, market analyst at Newzoo, certainly thinks so. “For sure. Big hits that are highly anticipated (e.g., GTA 6, new CODs) can get away with it due to franchise recognition. Most people are not going to stop buying these games because they are $10 more expensive. If consumers are willing to wait, they can get it at a discount a couple of months after release. But by then, these companies have already extracted max value/price from the people who are less price sensitive.”

Reis’ colleague Lauren Universe, client services manager at Newzoo, added: “Frankly, I expect base GTA to be at least $80, with multiple options of various increased prices (like Civ 7) that include expansions, DLCs, and ‘early access.’”

Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, agreed, and even expanded on who might be interested in raising prices beyond just Take-Two. “I do believe there is a chance that companies like Microsoft or Sony could feel encouraged to raise their prices now. Would you be shocked if Take-Two now thought to themselves: ‘If Nintendo can charge $80 for a Mario Kart game, we can do the same for GTA 6 – a title thousands of people have been working on for 12 years?”

Nuno Domingues Marques, also a market analyst at Newzoo, similarly brought up Sony and Microsoft as possible candidates for price hikes. “I am unsure if Sony/Xbox will wait for their next generation to make the push or if they will adjust post-Switch launch, but certainly, it seems like the way forward. Third-party publishers will jump on it as soon as they feel it is justified, which is likely ASAP. Not all exclusive games will cost $80, in my opinion though. Games like Ratchet & Clank or other smaller niche experiences are likely to keep lower price points.”

But Elliott pushed back a bit on the idea that Mario Kart World could have opened a higher pricing floodgate. He pointed out that at least in the UK and Europe (U.S. price discrepancies are still unconfirmed), Nintendo is charging more for the physical edition of Mario Kart World than digital in an effort to push more consumers toward the digital edition. But he suspects that because the other two console platforms are far more digitally-oriented than Nintendo (something he discussed in more detail in our other piece on the Switch 2 pricing), this would be a tougher sell for other publishers.

“While I believe Take Two could charge over $70 for GTA 6, I maintain that it is a bad idea for three reasons. [One,] the real cash cow is GTA Online and its recurring revenues, so limiting the total addressable audience at launch wouldn’t be smart. There’s also a cost-of-living crisis happening globally and GTA appeals to everyone – rich and less fortunate.

“[Two,] Rockstar needs to move players from GTA 5, and a higher floor for the switching cost would limit the GTA 5-to-GTA 6 player acquisition. Players not budging from GTA 5 is probably one of GTA 6’s biggest threats, one GTA hasn’t really faced before. After all, live services are mostly zero-sum in today’s oversaturated attention economy. GTA 6 isn’t just competing against competitors’ games, it’s competing with TikTok, Netflix, and even its predecessor.

“[Three,] Rockstar can easily charge $100 or more for an edition of GTA 6 with a week of early access, maybe with a shark card thrown in. Players with disposable income will pay for it. This is the best of both worlds for Take-Two. This is pretty much the norm for AAA games these days.”

Elliott concluded that even with all that in mind, GTA 6 nonetheless stands a better chance than any other game at withstanding a price hike with its consumer base intact. So ultimately, the question of GTA 6’s pricing remains an impossible one to answer up to the point where Take-Two finally announces it.

Living in Interesting Times

I’ll end on a hopeful note, though, which I got from both Mat Piscatella, analyst at Circana, and a couple of analysts at Newzoo. These folks told me that while we’re likely to keep seeing games get more expensive (and, as Piscatella points out, have already been for a while via Collector’s Editions and similar), we may also see them get cheaper in certain ways.

“Other Nintendo games will certainly follow suit,” said Brett Hunt, market analyst at Newzoo. “It could, however, open the door for Nintendo to have an adjusted discounting strategy for the Switch 2.”

Marques agreed. “Maybe we will see a bigger window of pricing as well, as seen from the Donkey Kong game. Creation of space for multiple different-sized games; games that cost $49.99, $59.99, etc., having distinct content depth and breadth expectations. I agree that maybe a new discounting strategy is coming from Nintendo.”

And as Piscatella put it, Nintendo may not be the only company that sees the need to break with $70 convention in more than just one way. “We certainly could see other publishers try and establish even higher base prices for some of their new games. But we could also see more significant price promotion and discounting as well.

“With all of the uncertainty in the market, we’re at a point where both publishers and consumers will have to figure out where things go next. These are, after all, interesting times.”

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.