Grand Theft Auto 6 is one of the most anticipated games ever made and could be one of the biggest releases of all time when it launches later in 2025. Rockstar is known for making high-budget, incredibly detailed, and ambitious titles unmatched by the rest of the genre, and although GTA 6 has impossible standards to aim for, due to the 12-year gap between titles, the studio is adamant to meet them. The budget behind it shows as much, making some film franchises blush, if the rumors are to be believed.
Games have been getting more expensive in recent years, and it isn’t unusual to see AAA games have budgets on par with Hollywood blockbusters. Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 cost an eye-watering $300 million, eclipsing the price of No Way Home (excluding marketing costs). GTA 6 is looking like the latest and most extreme example of this.
GTA 6’s Rumored Budget Of $1-2 Billion Makes It The Most Expensive Game Ever
It Could Cost More Than All Of Ubisoft
According to Insider Gaming, GTA 6 is rumored to cost Rockstar Games a truly astounding $1-2 billion, a figure unheard of in the gaming industry. Getting into the hundreds of millions has become more common, but even AAA titles (and Ubisoft’s AAAA games) tend to be $300 million at the most. GTA 6 will likely shatter this, and even spreading this budget across the roughly seven years the game has been in development doesn’t make it look any less shocking.
The budget of this single game is worth more than whole companies. Take Ubisoft, for instance. A big name in the industry despite suffering some financial problems, they have a market cap of $1.72 billion, according to Stock Analysis as of March 21, 2025. This means that if GTA 6 ends up closer to $2 billion, which is likely after factoring marketing costs, this single game could be worth more than all of Ubisoft, the industry giant behind franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry.
How GTA 6’s Rumored Budget Compares To Previous GTA Games
It Blows GTA 5’s Massive Budget Out Of The Water
Comparatively, GTA started quite humbly, with the original costing $1-2 million in 1997. GTA 2 cost $3-4 million, GTA 3 cost $5 million, Vice City had a similar budget, San Andreas doubled it to $10 million, and GTA 4 upped the ante massively, costing $100 million. This was then dwarfed by GTA 5‘s $250 million, a budget that isn’t far off what most AAA games are sitting at today, but adjusting for inflation puts it at roughly $340 million. This would be a massive figure today, but could potentially be a third or less of GTA 6‘s budget.
Related
GTA 6 Running At 30 FPS Is A Deal Breaker
Grand Theft Auto 6 may not be able to reach the standard of 60 FPS that players expect, as shown by how GTA 5 is handling its upgrade.
Rockstar seem quite comfortable with the idea that Grand Theft Auto 6 could be the biggest game release of all time. It has a lot to live up to, and the standards could very well be impossible to meet, but Rockstar’s track record implies that GTA 6 will be something special. Whether it will be $1-2 billion special remains to be seen, and of course, whether it will make that money back.
Source: Insider Gaming, Stock Analysis
- Platform(s)
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PS5, Xbox Series X|S
- Released
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2025
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer
- Engine
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Rockstar Advanced Game Engine
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