GTA 6: France Proposes 5.5 Cents Per Gigabyte Tax – Download Could Cost Roughly 10 Euros More

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Will GTA 6 become more expensive just because of its size? In France, a proposed tax is sparking exactly this debate. The National Assembly has surprisingly voted for a levy of 5.5 cents per gigabyte of transferred data traffic. For mega-downloads like GTA 6, this would theoretically mean an additional cost of about 10 to just under 12 Euros.

What Exactly Has France Decided?

Behind the idea is an amendment (Amendement n°I-1358) to the 2027 budget plan, introduced by the Socialist parliamentary group. Internet providers are to anonymously record incoming data volume per content provider on a quarterly basis and report it to the tax authorities. This would then collect 0.055 Euros per gigabyte.

The levy is capped at a maximum of 15 percent of the provider's revenue generated in France.
The initiative is actually aimed at US tech giants like Netflix or Google, but it also affects platforms like Steam, PlayStation, and Nintendo.
The vote only passed by a random majority of 11 to 10 votes – late on a Friday evening, only 35 out of 577 deputies were present.
The French government and budget rapporteurs have explicitly spoken out against the proposal.

The law is thus far from being passed. Next, the budget draft will move to the Senate. According to GameStar, industry experts expect that the gigabyte tax will either be removed later in the process or through a government veto.

How Much More Expensive Could GTA 6 Become Due to the Gigabyte Tax?

An example calculation: According to leaks, GTA 6 is over 200 GB in size; we recently reported on a download of around 210 GB and a preload start on November 12. For 210 gigabytes, based purely on volume, a tax of 11.55 Euros would apply. If the game costs 80 Euros, this amount directly hits the 15-percent cap – for 80 Euros gross, that would be a maximum of 12.00 Euros; based on the regular net revenue, a maximum of 10.00 Euros. Thus, for large titles, the maximum possible tax rate would apply.

What Does the Tax Mean for Players in Germany?

First off: nothing. The levy exclusively covers data streams tied to French connections. German players are not legally affected. The risk lies elsewhere: a national solo effort could lead providers to standardize their prices across the entire Eurozone or for other EU countries to demand similar levies.

For publishers and platforms, there would be several adjustment points. They could raise download prices, make patches chargeable, or offer high-resolution 4K graphics packs only as an optional extra. From our perspective, this is the truly interesting point: not the price of GTA 6 itself, but the question of who ultimately foots the bill – and as is often the case, it will likely be the players, even though the tax is actually intended to hit tech giants. However, as long as the proposal only has a narrow, accidental majority and the government opposes it, it remains a warning signal for now, not a price shock.