Grand Theft Auto V Cost Nearly $267 Million

[Matthi205]

So they want it to sell 4x as fast as it's predecessor? Well it was nice knowing you Rockstar.

GTA IV was hampered by several big things at once:
-No PC release at launch
-PC release was crappy and didn't run on most people's PCs
-PC release used GFWL AND other software as a requirement to run the game, which was (if I recall correctly) not met with a lot of enthusiasm at the time.

The internet hype machine as we know it today wasn't as strong, too ('least as I remember it, wasn't paying much attention to it back in 2008).

I think that game will sell about 10-15 million in the first year from release, and up to 25-30 million total. Even with the internet hype machine, I don't think those sales estimates will be met. Nevertheless, they will undoubtedly manage to cover their costs of development and make some money off of the game inside the first year.

Now on to the other topic, the game's budget. If all of that budget went towards making the game as good as possible and not for fancy-looking gimmicks, then I'm okay with that and will adjust my expectations appropriately[footnote]The Witcher 2 cost about 10.3 million US$ to make, so my expectations will be high indeed.[/footnote].

 

[BoogieManFL]

How is it even possible for a game to cost this much, even for one of this scope? Did the designers eat extravagant caviar and stay in luxurious hotels during design? I mean damn, I know it's expensive but that seems really crazy.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Did the real gang members they used for Voice Actors extort money out of them? Although this is GTA, if there was ever a brand to justify that kind of budget then it would be it.

I'm more of a Saints Row person (let me craft my own character and I'll care about it more than piloting three at once), but GTA 4 sold crazy numbers, they probably won't make that in a year, but the game will definitely top that in its lifetime.

 

[Saidan]

A pretty insane amount of money, no discussion there. I just hope the game's worth the cash.

 

[Weaver]

I hope it flops. I just really want to see a titanic failure like TOR again. I dunno, I'm a sadist.

 

[Abomination]

So they'll need to sell 4.5 million copies at $60 a head to supposedly make a profit.

I suspect they can pull it off but god damn, where did all of that money go?

I would like to see a pie chart just showing what portion went towards marketing and advertising.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

This kinda helps put the whole "Real Criminal VAs" into context.
They went that route because it was cheaper then getting real VAs

 

[chiefohara]

bloody hell... id be slightly nervous if i was Rockstar.

A lot of people could hold off purchasing a copy till it comes out on next gen consoles which may hurt sales in the short to mid-term.

 

[Longstreet]

For 267 million dollars it better have a fucking pc port or they can kiss their ass goodbye.

 

[Abomination]

For 267 million dollars it better have a fucking pc port or they can kiss their ass goodbye.

That too.

GTA has VERY strong roots in the PC community. I know a few people who (will) have the consoles that will run it but they won't buy it because they want it on PC.

 

[BrotherRool]

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 [HEADING=1]25 million copies[/HEADING] in its first year of release...

That's a good one. Good-golly-gracious, me.

Now, I know the franchise is really gosh-darn popular, but c'mon, that's crazy. They're shooting for CoD numbers there.

There's not as big a gap as you think, the last two main stream titles sold 20 million a piece outselling CoD IV and the two before that were hitting 15 million, all of which outsold CoD IV and CoD: World at War which were being sold at roughly the same sort of time.


So it's got a fairly reasonable shot at beating CoD, considering how many more console gamers there are out there now since GTA IV came out

 

[SSJBlastoise]

So to make that back Rockstar and Take-Two are looking for upwards of (not taking into account the marketing, printing, shipping, cuts taken by retail, and cuts taken by Sony/MS) of at least 3.4m sales assuming every copy goes at the regional equivalent of $60.

Dont think its gonna end well.

It says marketing is in that budget and printing and shipping? They would most likely come under development costs.

Even then, Tomb Raider sold 3.4m in it's first month so I have no idea why you'd think GTA V, one of the most anticipated games this year, would struggle to make a profit. This game is going to sell ridiculously well and I honestly think it will challenge COD this year.

OT: Hopefully this huge budget means it's really good.

 

[Andy Chalk]

I DEFEND MY USE OF LITERALLY!

$200 million sunk into TOR just so it could be flipped into free-to-play six months down the road is the very definition of blown money in my mind. If EA had designed that sucker as F2P from the start, you can bet it would've been a lot closer to $20 million.

 

[Irradiated Tiger]

As popular as GTA V is going to be, 25 million copies in a year seems just a little bit outrageous. This does not seem to be a sound investment by Rockstar.

 

[dragongit]

Here's the biggest issue, and one overlooked by Rockstar it seems. They want 25 million copies sold, but they left out one of their biggest potential markets, the PC. People are more likely to download a PC game then off their console's market place. So they may have to rely on sales to get the numbers they need if they used steam. It would have made up for it in the long run if it was a slow burn. Not gonna happen now though.

 

[CyberMachinist]

I just have one thing to ask... Why the need to spend a huge chunk for adverts? I seriously think they could have cut the marketing costs in half and the game still would have sold more than enough to make the budget back due to it's brand name giving it a big edge.

If there is one thing I've learned about how most industries work, it's that brand name alone can have a huge impact on how well your product sells, and the GTA brand is one of the main giants in the videogame industry.

 

[zileas7]

The shipping 25 million copies is a year was an industry analyst's prediction, not Rockstar or Take Two saying that it needed to ship that many. GTA IV sold around 6 million units in it's first week and make roughly $500 million, which is nearly twice what the development budget cited here is. I'd expect fairly similar numbers on this go around, so I'd say they're pretty well in the black.

 

[Ticklefist]

I remember when a new GTA release was really exciting. Man times have changed. The only people really talking about this game are the media.

 

[Goofguy]

That... is an exorbitant amount of money. Just what the hell were they developing with that money? The game and a rocket ship to Mars?

I'll be watching this game's release closely but damn, I just can't wrap my head around that figure. Rockstar must really be putting all their eggs in one basket, here's hoping it pays off for them because I want a Max Payne 4.