Take-Two CEO says that Rockstar Games want its upcoming open world action game, GTA VI, to be the best entertainment product ever created.
Here's why the rumored $1 billion budget for Rockstar Games' upcoming open world action game, Grand Theft Auto VI, doesn't quite add up.
"Or was it i̶n̶f̶o̶r̶m̶e̶d̶ guesswork from analysts?"
Video game budgets will always be fictional, just like Hollywood movies. Unless there are receipts it's all speculation.
And Take Two has a marketing department with an already approved budget (just like studios in Hollywood).
(Continue...I was in the Lincoln Tunnel)
Budgeting isn't included in the total cost because it is a separate budget. These companies intentionally inflate the numbers so they pay less in taxes.
This is not a new trend. And if you give your CEO $30 million per year and a game takes 5 years, you just add that $150million to the budget (CNN).
The costs don’t seem out of the realms of possibility. Remember that Rockstar isn’t just releasing just the GTA VI single player game, it has been building an online platform that will far surpass that of GTA V in size and scope that could last for 15 years or more - that takes significant investment.
Absolutely anything to do with the product is in the budget.
That is the very definition of BUDGET.
The majority of the budget is marketing and not producing the game.
Then said companies can tag anything else they want in said “budget”.
And the one thing that gta games have is commercials galore.
Early hands on… in the budget.
Review copies.. in the budget.
How much you have as a budget is different from how much you spend making a product. This is one thing journalists never seem to get
I don't know where they get these numbers, absolutely NO games is spending anywhere near that amount on production even including marketing. If we're talking lifetime estimates for like a 10yr plan maybe, but even that would be a very vague projection. RDR2 at the time of release cost less that GTAV did and GTAV cost about 265mil with marketing being an average of about 200-300mil each.
I believe it's somewhere around there. Cod is 700m$ to make. I think GTA could be around there if not more. The insane level of detail in the trailer says it all.
Yeah I believe it's around there personally.
The $700m cod budget is for tax purposes imho.
I also seriously doubt a game even as top notch as GTA would cost a billion to make.
Yeah, that would be tax fraud. Public companies are independenly audited. They cannot just put whatever number they want "for tax purposes".
@quantum
It's literally called Hollywood Accounting when movie studios do it.
So, you believe that goken and I are wrong, and Return of the Jedi never turned a profit.
It happens all the time.
Hate to break it to you Quantum, but multi-billion dollar companies don't have to follow the rules.
There's a difference between choosing how to allocate corporate/merchandising/royalt y expenses ("Hollywood accounting") and fraudulently inflating project expenses (ILLEGAL). Even if the IRS didn't catch wind of this accounting immediately, the SEC requires quarterly third-party financial audits of public companies. Corporate executives get sued and go to jail for misrepresenting company performance because it affects the value of publically-traded shares.
@Quantim
"It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."
You're doubling down and we are just trying to get you to understand.
Of course it's legal, their politicians made it so.
There's nothing I "need to understand". I have no problem with "Hollywood accounting" (which is legal because all expenses are taken into account in some capacity on the balance sheet). I was arguing against coming up with some large number "for tax purposes" which cannot come from nothing; it must be documented with receipts/invoices. If a company claims total cost of a production is $700M because they included fixed operating costs, no problem there! If they claim this cost without spending this cost on some component of their operations or the project, that is fraud and they will not pass their SEC audit (if they are a public company). Period.
https://www.sec.gov/about/r...
To be fair, the $700 million in development costs were over the game’s lifecycle, not just development - Black Ops Cold War (2020) in this case. And of course, this also include their marketing campaign.
But then, you take into account Activision Blizzard's shenanigans for not paying taxes, even getting tax refunds, moving billions to tax havens, plus all the money paid by Microsawft and Sony for exclusive deals, and I bet you that figure is substantially way lower than $700 millions. And I do mean SUBSTANTIALLY lower than that.
Oh, and if you think Rockstar hasn't figure out that scheme by now, lol, they have. They all have.
Take-Two announced its financial results for the fiscal year 2025, also sharing an update on the sales of GTA5 and Red Dead Redemption 2.
The anticipation for GTA6 has reached fever pitch, with the latest trailer being the biggest video launch of all time.
Milk...get your milk...and so much more. Really when you release the same games in three editions over 15 years it's amazing how much money, and the amount of sales you earn. It's amazing how no one can compete.
To be fair, no many companies could release the same game over and over. They've earned that whether we agree or not
GTA v isn't the only game that's released three consoles generations running but nothing has sold those numbers including GTA San Andreas which is now 4 console generations deep.
No surprising considering that it’s been on every major platform and store.
I decided to look up the longest and most sold games list. To my surprise Tetris has takes the top spot.
Trusted industry insider Jason Schreier claims another GTA 6 delay is certainly possible sometime next year.
To be honest, I fully expect GTA 6 to face another delay—likely announced around February or March 2026. I can already picture Rockstar releasing a statement along the lines of: "The game is nearly finished, but we need a bit more time to bring it up to our standards." A revised launch in September or October 2026 wouldn’t surprise me at all, positioning it perfectly for the holiday season—while also clearing the field, because no other major publisher would dare to release anything substantial alongside it.
The reality is that GTA 6 is simply too big to launch with major bugs or performance issues. Rockstar and Take-Two understand the stakes. If the game isn’t polished, they'll take the hit on the timeline rather than the quality. And the truth is, GTA 6 doesn’t even need the holiday window to dominate. This is a game that could launch in January and still shatter records.
What really blew my mind was reading projections of over $1 billion in pre-orders alone. That’s more than most games make in their entire lifetime. Estimates suggest GTA 6 could generate $4–6 billion in its first month—with some analysts leaning closer to $6B. Within three months, we could be looking at $9–10 billion in revenue.
At this point, GTA 6 isn’t just a game—it’s a cultural event. And when it finally drops, expect workplaces around the world to go strangely quiet. Let’s be real: the day GTA 6 launches will probably set a global record for “calling in sick”—and we’ll all know why
My guess:
September 29th, 2026.
I really can't see how they would actually want, like truly want (!) to release their biggest game ever at end of May.
Which is about 14 days before the FIFA World Championship is about to kick off - right in the Summer time for many countries GTA is popular in.
GTA(6) is huge, massively huge.
But one of the few things that are still quite bigger than GTA is the FIFA World Cup.
If I was T2, I definitely would NOT release GTA6 two weeks before it.
They did give a release date and then delay once again red dead 2… don’t be surprised folks…
Well I don't think they will do anymore delay but I noticed alot of company been releaseing they game on the end of the month.
It will if people make enough noise about it. That's the way it is these days.
They are going to raise the price on this game.
Can’t wait! Like my hype has never been this high for a game. I hope it really delivers and looks like what they’re showing. Like, I’ll finally feel like we’ve entered next-gen if it does.
I can't wait for this overblown cutscene game to come out so i never buy it and spend money on it.
Technically it looks incredible but I’m a bit disappointed that it’s turned into a franchise about heists. I miss the more carried mission structure. I miss having just one playable character too.
They're definitely gonna charge 2x. Full cost for the story. $80 Full cost for the MP. $80 complete $160 Bundle with some in game currency and Cosmetic dlc. $200