How can the $2 billion budget for GTA 6 be explained?

GTA 6 is reportedly going to have up to a $2 billion budget, making it one of the most ambitious games in the history of the series.

Following a leak from a couple of days ago, the game has been in production since 2014 and may have invested over $2 billion already. However, it seems that the hacker simply misunderstood the data as the amount has been allocated for the game in total, as clarified by the vx-underground on Twitter.

With that being said, let’s see how this massive budget can be spent on the game.

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Rockstar seems to have a big budget for GTA 6

As seen in the aforementioned post, user @vx-underground shed light on GTA 6’s $2 billion budget controversy by stating:

“It appears “pot” has misunderstood the own data he had exfiltrated. A more appropriate figure is $2B has been allocated for the game (in general)."

Even such a budget seems huge, making the upcoming title quite ambitious. With so much money allocated for it, Rockstar Games can utilize the money in different ways to make sure the upcoming game exceeds every expectation that fans have accumulated over the years.

According to a recent post on Twitter by Derek Strickland, a famous gaming reporter, the developers can utilize the money in four major aspects of the game, including:

1. Multi-year development of the base game (Story mode)
2. Marketing, publishing, and distribution
3. New content (via updates)
4. GTA 6 Online mode

He also expressed that the last one is more challenging, by stating:

“The last one could be pretty expensive if R* somehow uses GTA Online to bridge GTA 5 and GTA 6.”

It’ll be interesting to see how the developers connect to both games if the report does turn out to be true. Derek Strickland also emphasized the importance of input from none other than the famous Bloomberg reporter, Jason Schreier, by stating:

"Would be great to get @jasonschreier's input on something like this! $2 billion seems incredibly high."

Jason Schreier had ealier reported that the upcoming game in the long-running series will be set in Vice City, and the developers are planning to expand the map over time with constant updates. This will result in more content, more missions, and more cities.

As per his Bloomberg report, the title is also set to have the series’ first female protagonist, a Latina, along with a male protagonist, the duo of which seems to be inspired by none other than the robbers Bonnie and Clyde. The recent leak also confirmed that much of the footage had a female character.

He expects the game to be released next financial year, from April 2023 to March 2024. However, it looks like the title will not be released before 2025 thanks to a reliable insider, Adrien Perea. In a recent tweet, he stated:

“Grand Theft Auto VI is set to release in 2025."

He previously predicted the postponement of Hogwarts Legacy and Forspoken accurately.

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If these reports are believed to be true, it is good to see Rockstar’s confidence in the upcoming game by allocating such a huge amount of money for it. Players should note that the developers haven’t confirmed any of these yet, and they can expect an update regarding the upcoming title in due time, as stated in the developer’s recent statement.

Till then, fans can continue their hustle in GTA Online and wait for the official announcement of the upcoming game when the developers are ready to share it.