Grand Theft Auto 6(GTA 6) is slated to come out this November, an open-world crime game that reportedly cost over $1 billion to make. It's worth noting that while Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick admitted that creating the long-awaited sequel was expensive, he did not attach actual numbers to it.
However, there are things to consider regarding whyGTA 6may have cost this much. Those include the massive scope of the game, including amap that will reportedly be 2.5 times biggerthan the one used onGTA 5. It is likely to be expansive, larger and more detailed compared to previous maps covering beaches, swamps, and bustling urban centres.
Beyond those rumoured in-game features, there are several other reasonswhy GTA 6 development cost a fortune.One of them is the photorealistic graphics, something most have noticed from other top-selling AAA games. In fact, a couple of them come from Take-Two's end, Bioshock and Borderlands.
It would be best to also factor in the time element. Recall that GTA 5 was released way back in September 2013. Technology has since advanced and the costs involved in producing high-end games have understandably spiked.
'We certainly can't deal with exponential growth – we probably can't even deal with linear growth – in production costs,' Zelnick toldBloomberg.
Besides, there are many other factors that contribute to the mounting expenses of GTA 6 development, including advanced NPC AI, licensing music, live online infrastructure and cinematic production pipelines. Even with all this, Rockstar will need to factor in the marketing costs and inflation since GTA 5's release in 2013.
The believed $1.5 billion game development estimate for GTA 6 is unconfirmed for now. Regardless of what the official cost Rockstar really spent, the more pressing question is whether they can get a return on their investment.
That all depends on how much a copy of the game will cost. Unofficially, the word going around is that a copy of GTA 6 could cost roughly between $60 and $70. This potential pricing point has drawn mixed reactions, with some even believing it is unsustainable.
However, inflation and the efforts of injecting technology and high-end cinematics to make sure gamers get their money's worth make pricing it at that level appear reasonable.
GTA 6 is scheduled to launchon 19 November but it appears physical orders for the game will begin by next week. This is if the information revealed by a page involved in deals-related news is accurate.
Source: International Business Times UK
