Grand Theft Auto 6 is the biggest game that Rockstar Games has ever made, and it was no doubt very expensive to produce. But just how much did it cost? We know it's not $1.5 billion, but Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has now reacted to the discussion around the game's development costs.
He told The Wall Street Journal, "It was expensive and it took a long time."
The game has been in development for years, and was delayed multiple times. Zelnick said Take-Two's mission is to "make the best entertainment on Earth," and this takes time.
"Our strategy is to be the most creative, the most innovative, and the most efficient. Our cultural tenets are seek excellence in everything we do, work together as a team, and be kind. That approach sometimes is, in fact, really expensive," the executive said. "The good news is that we have a P&L and a balance sheet that supports that. And if we get it right--we don't always--but if we get it right, it actually pays for itself and then some."
Everyone expects GTA 6 to be a huge commercial success, but Zelnick said in the interview that he will not claim success before it occurs. "Arrogance is the enemy of continued success," he said.
Rockstar's ambition is to make the "most amazing entertainment experience of all time," Zelnick added. "They've done that before, and I'm hopeful that we will do that again. Like everyone else, I'm going to wait and see how it's received. I feel really good about it, but I'll wait and see," he said.
Also in the interview, Zelnick addressed GTA 6's latest delay to November 2026, saying it was "expensive and inconvenient" but was the right call for the game.
"There are a lot of companies who have a great mission statement, a stated strategy, and a culture, but then when push comes to shove, they do something that's at odds with that," he said. "My view is that culture, like character, is tested in the breach. It's a testing moment."
At the same time, Zelnick said he got a similar call from an executive asking for more time on a Take-Two project--and Zelnick said no. "I got a similar call and said, 'Actually, we're shipping,'" he said. "Thankfully, I was right, but imagine if I had been wrong?"
A dig at Cyberpunk 2077?
Also in the interview, Zelnick said other game companies can be too devoted to hitting deadlines, instead of taking more time, and spending more money, to get a game out in a better state. He didn't single any companies out, but he said a recent "high-profile" game that launched in such a rough state that it had to be pulled was an example of this--this could be a reference to CD Projekt Red and Cyberpunk 2077.
"That's the other piece that was left out of this discussion," he added. "What happens when people take the other approach? The other approach being, we're slavishly devoted to a schedule, and we're just going to ship despite what is going on. I am not going to throw any competitors under the bus, but if you know anything about the video game business, in the past few years, there was a very high-profile release that fell into this category. They shipped, and they had to pull the title after shipping, because it didn't work."
Cyberpunk 2077 had such a rough launch that it was pulled from the PlayStation Store; thousands of people separately sought refunds.
Despite releasing in such a rough state, Cyberpunk 2077 sold nearly 14 million copies in its first three weeks to become one of the most commercially successful RPG releases of all time. Executives at CD Projekt Red got gigantic bonuses, too.
CD Projekt joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski said it “was for sure wrong” to launch the game in that state, but he pushed back against the theory that the studio did so to appease investors who wanted to see financial returns.
Following Cyberpunk 2077’s rough launch, CD Projekt Red steadily supported the game with numerous updates and improvements over the years, culminating with a massive, game-changing 2.0 update in 2023 alongside the Phantom Liberty expansion. Today, the game has sold more than 40 million copies.
According to Sensor Tower, GTA 6 could reach 25 million pre-purchases by launch, and that would work out to around $2 billion in revenue. That would be enough to cover the game's development cost and most of the marketing spend.
GTA 6 releases on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
