Grand Theft Auto V is reportedly the most expensive videogame ever made.
Game development budgets are dodgy things and you have to take reports like this one with a grain of salt, but if the numbers reported by the Scotsman are even close to accurate, the total cost to make and market Grand Theft Auto V is absolutely astounding. While it doesn’t specify a source, the site claims that Rockstar’s “development and marketing budget” on the game was £170 million – $267 million – which Kotaku says makes it the most expensive videogame ever created, far surpassing the $200 million blown (literally) on Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The good news, at least from Take Two’s perspective, is that the site also claims “industry experts” are predicting that the new GTA could move 25 million copies in its first year of release, adding up to sales of £1 billion – more than $1.5 billion. That figure presumably comes from EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich, who told NowGamer in November 2012 that he expects the game will “sell upwards of 25 million copies in its first 12 months.”
That a healthy return on a hefty investment and it’s a foregone conclusion that Grand Theft Auto V is going to be a huge hit, but $267 million for a single videogame is still a ridiculous pile of money. Sooner or later even the deepest-pocketed publishers are going to hit the ceiling on these things. Right?
Source: The Scotsman
