"GTA6" development cost exceeds US$1 billion! More than 3 times more than ordinary 3A games

Recently, Take Two revealed the development budget of "Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA6)" in its financial report, and it is expected that the development expenditure of the game will exceed US$1 billion, making it the most expensive game ever.

In the financial report, Take Two denied the rumors that the development cost of "GTA6" reached US$2 billion, with the actual cost slightly exceeding US$1 billion. Nevertheless, this figure is still astronomical, considering that the current development costs of 3A games are usually between $200 million and $300 million, the development costs of "GTA6" are more than three times the industry average.

It is reported that $1 billion is just development expenses, and the actual total cost may easily reach $1.5 billion to $2 billion, which also includes publicity expenses and later content updates. Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier revealed that the concept and pre-production of "GTA6" have been started since 2014.

Such high development costs raises a question: How much will the price of "GTA6" be? Currently, the price of 3A games is usually between $60 and $70, but this pricing method may no longer be applicable. The media generally speculates that the starting price of the game may be $80, and it is not even ruled out to reach $100.

　　"Interstellar Citizen" is currently the only game with a development cost close to "GTA6". The work has raised nearly $800 million through crowdfunding, and has been developed for more than 12 years and is still in the Alpha stage.

Take Two revealed in its financial report that "GTA6" began to "seriously" development in 2020 after its success in "Red Dead Redemption 2". It is worth noting that the expression "serious" implies that the development of "GTA6" was actually started earlier. Since Red Dead Redemption 2 was released in 2018, IGN speculates that the total development cycle of "GTA6" will be at least 8 years.