“I run so scared with regard to all of our releases — just multiply it by a billion this time around,” said Zelnick during the Interactive Innovation Conference, according to Variety. “And I think the minute you stop running scared, you better get a different job if you’re in the entertainment business. Because [if] you claim success before you have it — you will largely be wrong.”

Despite these fears, however, Zelnick has also said that Take-Two Interactive is “blessed” to have the talent it does at its various studios. He also noted that, while the talented development teams continue to work on a game and “deliver a property,” it’s up to the company as a whole to ensure that the marketing and distribution will get the games into as many hands as possible.

“We’re blessed that we have some of the greatest creative talent on earth working inside the four walls of Take-Two and all of our affiliates,” he said. “And I’ve always felt like the way you create hits is to find the most talented people, encourage them to work within your system and then give them unlimited resources — financial, creative, technical and human — to pursue their passion. When that happens and the team delivers a property, it’s in our job as a broader organization to do a better job with worldwide marketing and distribution than anyone else, and then to run a rational business that makes sound decisions with no drama and does it over and over again every day. And so creative independence is a hallmark of creative success.”

At the same conference, Zelnick was also asked about how Take-Two Interactive will decide on the price for Grand Theft Auto 6, since many are expecting it to be the biggest launch in the history of gaming.

“Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way way way less of the value delivery,” Zelnick said. “How you feel about something you buy is the intersection of the thing itself and what you pay for. Consumers need to feel like the thing itself is amazing and the price they were charged was fair for what they got.”

He also made note of how, despite inflation having affected just about every aspect of life, from essentials like food to luxuries like hobbies, the price of games has stayed largely stable.

“If you look at it through that lens, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But that isn’t the lens through which we look. Instead, we look at… how do we deliver something amazing, and how do we make sure that what people pay for it feels very reasonable,” he said.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is being developed for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

After all, any brand would probably pay hundreds of millions for their inclusion, which should put a nice dent in that reportedly $2.11 billion (and counting) budget, further padding revenue. However, CEO Strauss Zelnick isn’t going down that road and wants to maintain GTA 6’s “pure” approach to brands, which is that they’re completely fictitious in-game.

“We need to be true to the underlying intellectual property, and we need to be true to our consumers,” Zelnick said at iicon (as reported by IGN). “And consumers have an intuitive sixth sense for something that’s real and something that’s not real. They can always figure it out.

“So in the case of GTA as a property, as you know, it’s a fictional world and everything in it is fictional. So we don’t have, for example, we’re not even at risk of doing brand partnerships because all the brands are made up. And I think that keeps us pure.”

This approach may seem at odds with NBA 2K, but not to Zelnick, because there are plenty of brands in the real-world NBA. “And as long as we present them in a natural way, in a way that’s consistent, the way the world would experience them in a basketball game, it’s great.” Granted, many fans might disagree, especially as the franchise has become more egregious with this (and microtransactions) over the years, but I digress.

Grand Theft Auto 6 will release on November 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PS5, and Zelnick again reassured that it would not face another delay. Launch marketing will begin this summer, but when the next trailer will be revealed remains unknown. Summer Game Fest’s showcase on June 5th sounds like a safe bet, so stay tuned for updates in the meantime.

“Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way way way less of the value delivery,” Zelnick said. “How you feel about something you buy is the intersection of the thing itself and what you pay for. Consumers need to feel like the thing itself is amazing and the price they were charged was fair for what they got.”

Zelnick also brought up the fact that, taking inflation into account, games have gotten cheaper when looked at from a wider lens, since just about everything else has gotten more expensive. Most major releases tend to be priced at $60 or $70 – a price point that has largely remained stable for quite some time.

“If you look at it through that lens, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But that isn’t the lens through which we look. Instead, we look at… how do we deliver something amazing, and how do we make sure that what people pay for it feels very reasonable,” he said.

Measuring the success of Grand Theft Auto 6, however, is a complicated subject for Zelnick. Calling it “the most spectacular piece of entertainment on Earth, in history,” he said that the current focus of the game’s development team is to make sure that the game is enjoyable.

“What we think about is making the most spectacular piece of entertainment on Earth, in history – and it’s a pretty daunting challenge. If we do that, and if we’re of service to our customers, then the upside will take care of itself.”

Speaking about the release date of Grand Theft Auto 6, Zelnick went on to joke that “a lot of people will be calling in sick on November 19.”

While Rockstar Games continues working on the title, a report from last month has indicated that the money needed to make it might exceed $2 billion. According to public records in the UK, Rockstar North has already spent £1.6 billion ($2.11 billion) on Grand Theft Auto 6 so far. These costs include employee salaries going all the way back to March 2019.

A former programmer who has worked on Grand Theft Auto 6 has also revealed through an update on their LinkedIn profile that the game will feature “next-generation procedural breakable glass.” They went on to describe their responsibilities, which included “designing tools for production to capture in-game footage with extra details from our rendering system,” during their tenure at the studio between February 2020 and April 2023.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. There is currently no confirmation of a PC release.

On the April 9th episode of Game Mess Mornings, Grubb added that, “It’s still supposed to come out this year, but that probably means December.” He also noted that if Xbox has “any other games, they’re probably trying to stack them up as early as they can so they have plenty of window of opportunity to succeed before Grand Theft Auto [6] comes out.”

Shortly after its launch window was announced at the last Xbox Developer_Direct, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan didn’t seem all that worried about a potential clash. “I mean, it’s more that they’re going to do what they’re going to do,” he said, referring to Rockstar. “My job is to do what we should do for the best of our games.”

However, when The Verge’s Tom Warren reported that Gears of War: E-Day could launch in the second half of 2026, he claimed that Microsoft wanted to avoid launching too close to Grand Theft Auto 6. It may be a case where Fable requires more time for polish, which could push its arrival closer to Rockstar’s magnum opus.

Whether it launches in December remains to be seen, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Microsoft opted for an early 2027 launch. The real question now is: How many other companies are thinking the same?

We’ll wait for more details, but if true, then Microsoft may announce this during the Xbox Games Showcase on June 7th. After all, other impending releases, such as Halo: Campaign Evolved, which reportedly launches in late July, could soften the blow of a delay. Stay tuned for updates in the meantime.

In case it wasn’t obvious, we’re talking about Grand Theft Auto 6. The once and future king of all open-world games. The magnum opus, the game to end all games, and which everyone is trying desperately to avoid. Surprised about that supposed August release window for Lords of the Fallen 2? Or that Halo: Campaign Evolved could launch before September, while Marvel’s Wolverine is launching halfway through?

Such is the power of Rockstar Games and the Grand Theft Auto name. No one wants their release to go figuratively toe-to-toe with Grand Theft Auto 6, much less hang around in the same vicinity. Because when you spend as much as Rockstar North reportedly has on employee wages alone, you can afford the breathing room.

Recently, fans discovered just how much that may be through public records maintained by the UK government agency, Companies House. Registered as Rockstar Games UK Limited, these outline wages and salaries from March 31st, 2019, to March 31st, 2025. Remember when Take-Two said development began in earnest around 2020? Rockstar North reportedly spent £191 million from 2019 to 2020 – about $252.6 million in what we can assume was pre-production alone.

Consider for a moment that Cyberpunk 2077, currently the seventh most expensive game ever made, spent roughly $526 million across all versions, marketing included, when adjusted for inflation in 2025. Let’s continue.

As production seemingly started rolling, costs increased gradually from March 2020 to 2021, with £223 million spent and then far more from 2021 to 2022, with £346 million spent. And while that marked the most expensive period of development per these records, the next two years would see the developer spend £316 million and £315 million.

Its latest report from March 31st, 2024, to the same date in 2025 indicates £282 million spent on salaries. Of course, we already know that Grand Theft Auto 6 got delayed – twice, in fact – and Rockstar has yet to reveal how much was spent from 2025 to 2026, never mind the other nine months leading up to its launch. However, if you calculate the current amount reportedly spent on employee wages alone, it’s about £1.6 billion or roughly $2.1 billion.

Disclaimer: While Companies House does “basic checks on documents,” ensuring they’re “fully completed and signed,” it doesn’t have “statutory power of capability” to verify their accuracy. So while these records are a strong indicator of how much has been spent, you shouldn’t take them as full confirmation. Not that Rockstar or Take-Two will willingly confirm the same if you ask nicely, but I digress.

The most expensive game ever developed is, believe it or not, Monopoly Go!, with $1.026 billion spent on development and marketing when adjusted for inflation last year. Star Citizen, which started releasing modules in 2013 – the same year that Grand Theft Auto 5 launched, conveniently enough – and Squadron 42 have already cost over $955 million. If these records for Grand Theft Auto 6 are accurate, then just based on developer salaries alone, it would be the most expensive game ever made. And again, that hasn’t even factored in marketing or costs spent on support studios. Heck, 21 months have yet to be accounted for. The total may cross $3 billion in wages when all is said and done.

However, as of March 2025, about $2.1 billion. It’s simply mind-boggling, but then again, is it? A former graphics programmer seemingly revealed that they worked on “next-generation procedural breakable glass” for vehicles and props over the course of three years and two months (among other things). With reports of all the other technical wizardry that the game will have – a “revolutionary new system” for real-time physically simulated water, more precise deformations for vehicles, a real-time weather system with heavy gameplay implications – it’s not surprising. Then again, there’s also that part in the documents about a monthly average of 1,744 employees at Rockstar, which is also an insane number in its own right.

“They’ll get that back in the first week of launch,” you’re no doubt thinking about that amount, and as incredulous as it sounds, you’re not wrong. Just think back to the release of Grand Theft Auto 5, which earned $800 million on its first day and $1 billion in three. By comparison, the sequel is on a whole other level when it comes to hype. It’s been touted as the savior for an industry that’s notoriously lagging in both hardware and software sales. It’s Take-Two’s cash cow for the next decade or so. Amid concerns of rising inflation, global tariffs and the economy in general, no expense has apparently been spared for Grand Theft Auto 6. Just like for Grand Theft Auto 5, and just like for Red Dead Redemption 2.

Conveniently, an interview by Kiwi Talkz with former audio designer Rob Carr talks about Rockstar’s thought process. Speaking on technical limitations – “’Each soundbank has to be X, Y, and Z, these are your limitations for every mission. These are the technical constraints,'” he said. But creative constraints? “’There isn’t any. Go nuts’” is apparently how the company operates. Which doesn’t mean that its teams can logically fit in everything that they want – just that, “It’s easier to dial it down, you know, dial it back, go too much and then strip some fat off than it is to not do enough and then have to push for that extra five or 10 percent at the end of the project,” says Carr. Which makes even more sense if Rockstar wants to instead spend that time on bug testing and polishing.

Nevertheless, it speaks to how the company has been when developing its games, and Take-Two always gives it that leeway for a reason. Other developers and publishers avoid it for the very same. What would ordinarily inspire outrage in terms of the sheer amount spent on development thus far – especially with criticism over ballooning cost in triple-A development – is pretty much a given. Creating an unrealistic standard that the genre has no hope in hell of ever reaching? Par for the course, really. It’s almost as if Grand Theft Auto is in a completely different realm that’s just plain untouchable, regardless of everything else. Not because this is how games are made, but because that’s how Rockstar wants to make them, all else be damned.

I’d like to believe spending hundreds of millions doesn’t automatically translate into a quality release, much less one that will see the light of day – look no further than reports of Eidos Montreal cancelling a project whose budget apparently blew well past nine figures. Nor should it be taken as the norm, despite the general direction of triple-A games over the past decade or more.

Instead, it can be best viewed as Rockstar doing Rockstar things, ensuring that Grand Theft Auto 6 stands out. It will be players’ de facto choice when it comes to spending $80, because there is no way it could retail for cheaper after these figures have come to light. It will help justify all those re-releases and special editions, all those double-dippers when the PC version rolls around. And maybe, that’s enough, but really, it’s because Rockstar probably doesn’t know how else to make games. With less than nine months before launch, either thought is scary and we probably can’t even imagine to what extent.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

And if you believe rumors of a reboot in 2020…well, it’s anyone’s guess how far back it truly began. We’re free to speculate as to why, but former audio engineer Rob Carr offered his own take on the long development cycle: The RAGE Engine, or rather, Rockstar North revamping it from the ground up.

“I’ve got zero experience,” he told Kiwi Talks in a recent interview. “I know nothing about it, other than the fact that they probably will have – given the time frame of how long it’s taken them to get to this stage, they’ve probably rebuilt the entirety of the Rage Engine. That’s the only thing I can say with real, genuine confidence.

“I’ll be amazed if they didn’t because the architecture of technology has advanced significantly since GTA 5, which again, is easy to forget. That was three generations ago. That was the last one to be released on 360 and PS3. You know, everyone forgets that because it’s still…up until recently, GTA Online was still a going concern. That’s a good tenure for a game for any game, you know, and that’s on the PS5.”

Between a former graphics programmer claiming they worked on “next generation procedural breaking glass” and rumors of realistic weather and real-time, physically simulated water, it wouldn’t be too surprising. However, it’s also possible that some things seen in Grand Theft Auto 5 could make their way over to Grand Theft Auto 6.

“There are things for sure I feel that they did in GTA 5 that they will definitely want to expand on and use as either a core mechanic or a main plot point or something in GTA 6. I’d be incredibly surprised if they don’t do anything like that. I’d be very, very surprised. But again, I’m coming in blind.”

While Red Dead Redemption 2 was mentioned as another title that Rockstar could potentially take from, Carr cited mechanics like Dead Eye from the first game and how it appeared in GTA 5. “Even on GTA 5, they took the Dead Eye system, and they used it as one of the perks.

“You’ve got the Dead Eye thing that Michael used. I think you’ve got the slow-mo driving thing for Franklin and the Berserker mode for Trevor. You know, they’re all things that, you know, key things that they’ve been used in previous sort of titles that they wanted to sort of expand upon.”

It would be interesting if certain mechanics from Grand Theft Auto Online also made an appearance (besides in what multiplayer mode Rockstar has included). For now, Grand Theft Auto 6 is slated to launch on November 19th for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. With launch marketing beginning this Summer, it’s not long before we learn more, so stay tuned.

Discovered by Reddit user Due-Vanilla-8294, these costs seemingly encompass employee wages and salaries reaching back to March 2019. The address corresponds to Rockstar North’s location, and as of March 31st, 2025, the average monthly employees is 1,744, a noticeable jump from a year prior when it was 1,658.

Of course, this likely doesn’t include marketing, and since these are only the developer’s costs, we don’t know if there are any associated with whatever support studios may be involved. Companies House also clarifies that despite carrying out “basic checks on documents received to make sure that they have been fully completed and signed,” it doesn’t possess “the statutory power or capability to verify the accuracy of the information that companies send to us.”

“The fact that the information has been placed on the public record should not be taken to indicate that Companies House has verified or validated it in any way.”

That said, if it is accurate, then this is only the expenditure as of March 31st, 2025. Imagine an additional year’s worth of costs, plus nine additional months, since Grand Theft Auto 6 will launch on November 19th. It could easily cross $3 billion, easily making it the most expensive video game ever developed. You had a nice run, Monopoly Go!, but it may be coming to an end soon.

As always, stay tuned for further updates and head here to learn more about the “next-gen” glass that Grand Theft Auto 6 will seemingly have.

This was reportedly discovered on the LinkedIn profile of a former graphics programmer, who worked at the company from February 2020 to April 2023. They took the lead on implementing this system for vehicles and props while also being responsible for “designing tools for production to capture in-game footage with extra details from our rendering system.”

As soon as this was all discovered, however, they apparently went about wiping every single detail, only specifying that they worked on Grand Theft Auto 6 for a little over three years. If former employees signed an NDA (and you’d have to think Rockstar would mandate it), then it would make sense. After all, it’s been more than a little antsy about alleged leaks over the past several months.

Grand Theft Auto 6 will be available on November 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PS5 (barring any further delays). At this point, such an apparently detailed system for procedural breakable glass may only be one of the major details that it has in store. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months, especially as its release draws near.

He noted that, while Project Genie’s outputs can potentially “look like NBA 2K or EA Sports FC or Red Dead Redemption,” actually creating interactive game worlds tends to involve a lot more effort, and “is a completely different animal and does require human engagement [and] creativity.”

Zelnick believes that, while there is a potential use case for this AI-based technology, at least when it comes to making assets, it ultimately won’t help anyone “create hits”. Even when it comes to asset creation, he noted that there are plenty of assets available for developers to use.

“I was kind of stunned by the market’s reaction, because the market’s reaction was somehow seeing it as a threat to what we do, when it’s quite obvious that creation tools are beneficial for our industry,” he said. “I think the […] case for big entertainment companies is somehow that AI tools will mean everyone can create hits, doesn’t stand to reason.”

“These tools may help you create assets, but that won’t help you create hits. There are loads of assets out there now. It doesn’t matter if you push a button to create an asset, or it takes you six weeks, at the end of the day, you have an asset. And thousands of mobile games are launched every year, and there are a handful of hits.”

“The notion that somehow new tools would allow an individual to push a button and generate a hit, market a hit, and bring it to many millions of consumers around the world — it’s a laughable notion,” Zelnick continued. “It’s just never been the case with entertainment.”

In the same interview, Zelnick also spoke about how he isn’t too worried about the older audience for Grand Theft Auto 6 having to juggle real-life responsibilities with spending time in a massive open-world game. He noted that Take-Two Interactive has games that “appeal to all audiences,” and that fans of the GTA franchise that grew up playing 4 and 5 will be able to engage with GTA 6 just fine.

“I think we’re gonna have a lot of 17-year-olds playing GTA 6,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any risk of being like, ‘All right, yeah, if I didn’t play five or four or three or two or one, I’m not showing up.’ I think we’ll be able to engage every appropriate individual in GTA 6.”

Grand Theft Auto 6 is being developed for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and is currently slated for release on November 19th. While the franchise has traditionally also seen PC versions coming out some time after the console launch, neither Rockstar Games nor Take-Two Interactive have made any such announcement yet.

When asked how older audiences, like those who have families to handle, could get bogged down with these responsibilities and not be able to enjoy Grand Theft Auto 6, Zelnick noted that the company has many games, like the NBA 2K and WWE 2K franchises, that can “appeal to all audiences.” He continued: “Others are specifically tailored at audiences that are 17 and above, for example, GTA. We serve all audiences and we market our products appropriately to the audience in question.”

As for audiences that may have grown up playing Rockstar’s previous titles like Grand Theft Auto 4 and 5, Zelnick isn’t too worried there either.

“I think we’re gonna have a lot of 17-year-olds playing GTA 6,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any risk of being like, ‘All right, yeah, if I didn’t play five or four or three or two or one, I’m not showing up.’ I think we’ll be able to engage every appropriate individual in GTA 6.”

For fans that may have grown up as gamers, Zelnick has a message: “If you fell in love with video games at 17 and you’re 40, guess what? You still do? Play video games.”

As the open-world title gets closer to its November 19th release date for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games are also getting ready for a major marketing push. Zelnick had spoken about this last month, noting that the game’s development is on track to not see further delays, and that plans for “marketing beats” over the Summer will continue as well.

“Well because we actually, obviously, track progress daily of everything that we do,” he said when asked about how he could be so sure that GTA 6 wouldn’t see yet another delay. “And we obviously announced that we have marketing beats coming this Summer. And we don’t spend money on marketing until we’re pretty close to release.”

He went on to discuss how, despite Grand Theft Auto 6 being a massive upcoming release, the company still has to spend time and money to market it. While there is awareness of the game in the industry, he noted that there also has to be energy for it.

“I think there’s a difference between awareness and energy, and we need to create the energy,” Zelnick explained. “We do have the awareness, the anticipation is huge, it’s bigger than ever before, but in our business you do have to tell people what’s coming and our consumers wanna know that this is gonna be great and they wanna see what the visuals look like.”

A recent report of Grand Theft Auto 6‘s IDs being added to the PlayStation Store backend have lent further credence to the title sticking to its planned release date later this year.