Grand Theft Auto 6 Nears Nov. 19 Release With $1 Billion Cost and 12.5 Million-Copy Breakeven
Updated
Updated · Polygon · Jun 14
Grand Theft Auto 6 Nears Nov. 19 Release With $1 Billion Cost and 12.5 Million-Copy Breakeven
3 articles · Updated · Polygon · Jun 14
Summary
Five months before launch, Grand Theft Auto 6 faces extraordinary pressure to justify an estimated development bill of more than $1 billion, a figure that would make it the costliest game project on record.
At an assumed $80 price, Rockstar would need to sell about 12.5 million copies just to recoup development costs, excluding marketing and any premium-edition upside.
Rockstar has precedent for huge openings: GTA 5 generated $800 million on launch day in 2013, while Red Dead Redemption 2 brought in $725 million in its first weekend.
This release lands in a tougher market, with game prices up as much as 33%, console costs still elevated and discretionary spending under pressure amid a broader slowdown in video-game spending.
Take-Two is counting on a massive hit — it has forecast $8 billion in annual revenue — and publishers have already shifted other major games out of GTA 6's release window.