Kingdom Come 2 Boss Wants GTA 6 to Drag Game Prices Upward

Martin Klima, co-founder of Warhorse Studios, has a message for players worried about the cost of new games: expect to pay more, and don't be surprised when you do. The developer behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 says a price rise is "long overdue and also necessary for this business to survive."

Klima's hope is that Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 6 will be the game that resets expectations. Few releases carry as much weight as a new GTA, and if Rockstar sets a premium price, other publishers and studios may feel free to follow. In Klima's view, a blockbuster of that size is exactly the kind of release that could turn a price increase from a risky experiment into the accepted standard.

The argument rests on a simple pressure point. Development budgets and team sizes have grown steadily over the past decade, while the headline price of a full game has stayed close to the same level for years. Studios have tried to make up the difference through deluxe editions, season passes and microtransactions. Klima's stance suggests he would rather see the base price do more of the work.

It is a notable position coming from the head of a mid-sized, story-driven studio. Warhorse is not a platform holder or a giant publisher with a vast catalog to cushion bad quarters. Its historical RPG, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, arrived last year as a big, ambitious single-player project, the sort of game that is expensive to build and relies on word of mouth and steady sales over time.

There is also a competitive logic at play. Smaller and mid-tier developers often feel boxed in by the pricing set by the largest publishers. If a huge title like GTA 6 raises the ceiling, it could give everyone else room to charge more without looking like an outlier.

Of course, players are not guaranteed to welcome the idea. Many already feel stretched by rising costs elsewhere, and higher sticker prices could push more people toward waiting for sales, subscriptions or backlog games they already own. Whether the market accepts a new norm will depend on how GTA 6 is priced and how buyers respond.

For now, Klima's comments add another voice to a growing debate about what games should cost. He is firmly on the side of change, and he is watching Rockstar closely.