There is only a rough guide: analysts say $1–1.5 billion, and Rockstar’s head of publishing told Bloomberg the rumour that the game cost more than the Burj Khalifa (about $1.5 billion) is false.
What Take-Two and Rockstar say
Take-Two and Rockstar have not disclosed the GTA VI budget: there is no official figure.
Take-Two chief Strauss Zelnick has said only that the game was expensive and took a long time. He gave no figure.
ReportedBusiness Insider
Jennifer Kolbe, Rockstar’s head of publishing, told Bloomberg the rumour that the game cost more than the Burj Khalifa, about $1.5 billion, is false. She gave no exact figure.
ReportedBloomberg: the making of GTA VI
Where the numbers come from
| Figure | Where it comes from | Status |
|---|---|---|
| $1–1.5 billion | analysts’ estimate in Business Insider | Reported |
| over $1.5 billion | estimate by Michael Pachter of Wedbush, apparently including marketing | Reported |
| $2 billion | a hacker’s messages from 2022, no documents | Rumour |
| $2.7 billion | Rockstar Games UK staff costs for 2019–2025 | Reported |
| $3 billion and up | guesses from Reddit and blogs | Rumour |
Why the numbers differ so much
Because they measure different things. Some do not say what they count, some add marketing, and others add up every salary over several years.
Rockstar Games UK filings show staff costs of about £2.14 billion, roughly $2.7 billion, for 2019–2025. That is not the GTA VI budget: the company also supported other games, and other Rockstar studios are not included.
ReportedWccftech
The $2 billion figure comes from a hacker’s messages in 2022, and he admitted he had no documents. Rockstar has not confirmed it.
RumourGameLuster
Figures of $3 billion and above are guesses: their authors take the payroll from the UK filings and add estimates of their own.
RumourMP1st
What is known about the scale
According to Bloomberg, development took more than eight years, and Rockstar’s staff grew from 2,441 people in 2018 to 4,711 in August 2026.
ReportedBloomberg: the making of GTA VI
Bloomberg considers GTA VI almost certainly the most expensive game ever made.
ReportedBloomberg: the making of GTA VI
If Take-Two names a figure, we’ll record it on the what changed page.
People also ask
How much money went into GTA 6?
Nobody has named an exact sum. Analysts talk about $1–1.5 billion.
ReportedDid GTA 6 really cost $2 billion?
There is no confirmation. Rockstar’s head of publishing told Bloomberg the rumour that the game cost more than the Burj Khalifa (about $1.5 billion) is false, and the source of the $2 billion figure had no documents.
RumourIs it the most expensive game ever made?
Bloomberg thinks it almost certainly is, but there are no official figures to compare.
ReportedHow much did GTA 5 cost to make?
There is no official figure for that either. In 2013 The Scotsman reported about $265 million, marketing included.
Reported