Grand Theft Auto VI goes on sale on November 19, 13 years after its predecessor, and analysts tracking the industry expect the GTA VI release to set records no other cultural product has reached. AFP, in a report carried by the Jamaica Observer, said the game has taken almost a decade to make and has become the most expensive title in history.
Rockstar Games has spent eight years developing the sixth edition of the franchise, a process beset by difficulties including the leak of development footage and code for the game online in 2022.
Thirteen Years Since the Last Main Edition
GTA V, the previous edition, is still the second-biggest selling game ever. It took just three days to rack up US$1 billion in sales, two days less than the film Avengers: Endgame.
The marketing campaign for the new game began in late 2023 with the release of the first official trailer. Chris Dring of The Game Business outlet told AFP the scale of the moment is without precedent.
“It is going to be the biggest entertainment launch of all time,” Dring said.
He also credited the studio behind the delay. “They’ve spent a long time on this game, but they are probably the top game entertainment creators in the world,” Dring told AFP.
Jason and Lucia Headline a Reimagined Vice City
GTA VI has two main protagonists: Jason, a former drug-runner, and Lucia, a newly released ex-con. The pair try to survive in Vice City, a re-imagining of Miami.
Lucia is the first playable woman character in a main edition of the franchise, which has run for almost 30 years. The series lets players act out gangster fantasies — shooting up bars, crashing cars — in fictional renderings of US cities, where the soundtrack piped through in-game radio is almost as important as the cutting-edge visuals.
During the 1990s and 2000s the series’ graphic depictions of sex, violence and misogyny became notorious. AFP reported that tabloid media outrage boosted the title’s notoriety and helped sales to skyrocket.
A Budget Reported Above US$1 Billion
The budget of GTA VI has reportedly ballooned to over US$1 billion, far higher than any other game or film. Projections have the game on track to make several billion dollars in its first week, which would smash all records for any cultural product, according to the AFP report.
Analysis firm Sensor Tower said the game had already generated around US$750 million from pre-sales ahead of the GTA VI release.
Purchase Intent Beyond Anything Circana Has Tracked
Surveys suggested almost one-third of the 49 million people who use PS5 and Xbox Series consoles in the United States intended to buy the game.
“The purchase intent that we’re seeing on Grand Theft Auto is far away above any other game we’ve ever tracked,” said Mat Piscatella of consultancy Circana.
The enthusiasm is visible among players as well. “For me, it’s the game of the decade,” Jocelin Lebeau, 39, a gamer who works for the French military, told AFP at a recent event in Paris. “I’m ready to buy it sight unseen.”
Rival Studios Cleared the Release Calendar
Analysts expect the game to have an impact on the entire video game sector, including on console sales and accessories, AFP reported. Several other studios delayed the release of new games to avoid being caught in the hype cycle around GTA VI.
What the GTA VI Release Numbers Rest On
The figures attached to the November 19 launch come from separate trackers. Sensor Tower supplied the pre-sales estimate of roughly US$750 million. Circana supplied the purchase-intent reading drawn from PS5 and Xbox Series owners in the United States. The Game Business supplied the forecast that the GTA VI release will top every previous entertainment debut. The reported budget of more than US$1 billion has not been confirmed by Rockstar Games in the reporting.
What is fixed is the date. Two weeks out from launch, fans of the franchise are counting down to a title that has been in development since 2018 and in public view since the first trailer dropped in late 2023.
For more NarwhalTV coverage of the devices in the living room where many of those consoles sit, see our reporting on how Vizio SmartCast kept sending data after opt-out.
