GTA 4 (2008) had a development budget of 100 million in (146.5 million today) it made $500 million (730 million today) in the first week and sold 25 million copies by 2013. GTA 5 (2013) had a development cost of 265 million (354 million today) it made 1.15 billion (1.56 billion today) in the first week and had sold 205 million copies as of 2025 and a total gross of 8.5 billion as of today (including GTA online sales). RDR 2 (2018) had a development cost of 540 million ( 678 million today) and made 725 million in the first 3 days (909 million today) and sold 57 million copies as of 2023. GTA 6 is rumored to have a development cost of 2 billion and it is the first game to have a female main character in story mode. To achieve the success level of GTA 5 it would need to make more than GTA 5 has made in total in the first week. That’s 124 million copies of $70 in the first week.
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The franchise is 28 years old this year. For the past 12 years there's only been GTA V.
Within 16 years there was GTA (+ London 1969 and 1962), GTA 2, GTA 3, GTA: Vice City, GTA: San Andreas, GTA Advance, GTA: Liberty City Stories, GTA: Vice City Stories, GTA IV, GTA: The Lost and the Damned, GTA: The Ballad of Gay Tony and GTA: Chinatown Wars.
This will be the first GTA the #Gamergate movement will have seen fresh.
In September 2013 Denise Clinton was doing a 'spirit walk' as a 'new age feminist' and badmouthing Franklin in front of her, and his, friends. Life Invader and Bleeter were quips at social media and its impact on society. Lazlow Jones was a blatant nod to the casting couch prior to the #MeToo movement and Weasel News was a mockery of journalism and its brazen attitude to 'truth'.
And that's just skimming the top of the froth on this iceberg cappuccino.
The constant consistent snidey snarks at mainstream culture is what made the single player brand popular, which overflowed into making the online version as successful as it is. Does Rockstar have what it takes to live up to its own standards of deviation and mockery which made it so appealing?
I'm guessing with Sweet Baby Inc's involvement, the state of journalism and how prepackaged everything is for consumers that it will be heavily barbed and censored. If the hunger for cash is strong enough it has the right ingredients to be explosively hot, but if the ethical considerations of those looking to gatekeep are upheld, it'll be the end of an era.
I can answer this one. They will do what they have been doing with the “online stories” and steer into people being absurd over society being absurd. It will have zero bad to say about social commentary like the Covid vax, troons, feminism, lockdowns, etc. it will simply be “look at this absurd guy” “look at how diverse Miami is” “lol Florida man”. It’s “safe satire” which won’t be enough to push away normies, it’s their happy medium while shifting the overton window.
If it is just a refill on GTA V (But with less calories) then the entire joke will be what the game has become.
Even if it starts off with a Harvey Dent "Become the villain" speech the entire base will collapse and something new will become the standard-bearer.
Rockstar has fuck you money and could hold the line. But that requires balls and I've a funny feeling that lunch around the conference table has been Jim's Sticky Ring and Yogurt Shot for a while now.
They have zero competition currently and the resources to outdo any potential competitor. Saints row went woke and died, payday 3 was shit, mafia/sleeping dogs are dead. They for all intents and purposes have a monopoly like madden but only have to make 1 game a decade and spam cheap online content with some goofy characters.
There is a new mafia game in the works though.