The GTA VI development budget remains a closely guarded secret, but Rockstar Games has offered an unusual comparison, telling Bloomberg that the upcoming game’s production cost is slightly less than the $1.5 billion spent constructing Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
According to a Bloomberg report, neither Rockstar nor its parent company, Take-Two Interactive, would disclose the actual development budget for Grand Theft Auto VI, which launches on November 19. However, most industry estimates suggest it is the most expensive video game ever made.
For comparison, Bloomberg notes that a typical major AAA game costs a couple hundred million dollars to develop. The combined production budgets of Grand Theft Auto III, IV, and V are estimated to represent only a fraction of what Rockstar has spent on GTA VI.
One reason behind the enormous GTA VI development budget is the size of Rockstar’s workforce. The company now employs more than 4,700 people, nearly twice as many as when development began.
The game’s scale has also contributed to rising costs. GTA VI features a fictionalized version of Miami and its surrounding areas, built as a large open-world environment. Bloomberg points to the industry’s growing focus on realistic visuals and performance capture, including actors working in motion-capture suits, as another factor driving development expenses.
The project has also taken considerably longer than previous entries. Grand Theft Auto VI arrives 13 years after the last numbered installment, with Bloomberg attributing part of that extended development period to the game’s technical ambitions.
Rockstar’s previous commercial success has helped support such an expensive project. The Grand Theft Auto franchise has sold approximately 500 million copies worldwide, while GTA V alone accounts for around 230 million.
GTA Online has been another major source of revenue. According to Bloomberg, the multiplayer mode has generated approximately $500 million annually over the 13 years since GTA V launched.
Some industry analysts expect Grand Theft Auto VI to generate as much as $3 billion in revenue during its first four months on the market.
The spending comes at a difficult time for the wider gaming industry. Bloomberg notes that rising development costs have contributed to studio closures and tens of thousands of layoffs over the past three to four years.
