GTA 6 and its $1.5 billion production cost estimate: All you need to know

The GTA 6 production cost has been a frequently discussed topic within the gaming community for years. While we have yet to get an official figure, rumors suggest that it could cross the billion-dollar mark. According to a recent report by The Telegraph, the upcoming title's production cost is estimated to exceed $1.5 billion.

Read on to learn more about the predictions regarding the Grand Theft Auto 6 production cost.

Note: Aspects of this article are based on leaks, rumors, and speculations. Some parts reflect the writer’s opinions.

Exploring the major GTA 6 budget predictions

On August 3, 2025, The Telegraph shared a report mentioning Michael Patcher’s prediction for Grand Theft Auto 6. Patcher is a renowned gaming research analyst, currently working at Wedbush Securities. The report stated:

“Michael Patcher…estimates the new title has cost north of $1.5bn to develop but should make Take-Two billions of dollars in profits.”

Even before this, many prominent sources made predictions about the Grand Theft Auto 6 budget. For reference, in July 2025, investment experts at Konvoy predicted that the Grand Theft Auto 6 budget of $2 billion could be covered in sales within 30 days. The firm stated:

"For Take-Two Interactive's $2 billion investment into this game, we believe they will break even on that within 30 days of release.”

While these are recent predictions, discussions related to the upcoming game's budget can be traced back to September 2022. A few days after the GTA 6 leaks, the individual responsible contacted vx-underground (X/@vxunderground) and tried to sell the stolen assets.

The cybersecurity firm shared some screenshots of its conversation with the leaker, where the latter stated the following:

“But GTA 6 has been in development since 2014 with over $2b spent on it so far.”

This might have compelled the gaming industry to believe that the Grand Theft Auto 6 production cost could be around or over the billion-dollar mark.

Also read: GTA 6 could generate $10 billion in revenue, predicts analyst: Report

How much is this GTA 6 production cost estimate likely to be true?

As of now, predicting the exact production cost of Grand Theft Auto 6 is difficult since Rockstar Games is still working on it. Another thing to note is that the studio hasn’t shared its previous projects’ budgets, barring GTA 4. However, the studio only stated that the 2008 title cost them over $100 million.

According to reports by GamesIndustry.biz and VentureBeat, Rockstar spent around $137 million on GTA 5 and $170 million on Red Dead Redemption 2. Considering the increase in Rockstar's estimated expenses from one game to the next, it doesn't seem very likely that the developer has a budget of over $1 billion for Grand Theft Auto 6.

However, one thing we can presume is that the upcoming title will have a bigger budget than Rockstar’s last two projects.

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About the author

Mridul completed his post-graduation in Mass Communication, Journalism, and Media Studies. His career as a journalist began at Sportskeeda, and he has been associated with the Esports & Gaming division for over 1.5 years. He has produced 1600+ articles on Grand Theft Auto, his favorite gaming franchise of all time.

Mridul writes detailed and well-researched articles, relying solely on official sources and reputable insiders for credible information. His immense love for the GTA series shines through in his work, which resonates with readers, with five of his articles having crossed the 100,000 reads mark each. Overall, his reads count stands at close to 8 million.

GTA: Vice City served as Mridul's introduction to Rockstar Games, and he has dedicatedly made his way through the publisher's catalog since then. If given a chance, he would love to drop into the world of Bully and relive his school days. However, he would like to recommend Grand Theft Auto 4 to beginners due to the depth of its narrative and in-game mechanics.

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Edited by Dinesh Renthlei