The $2 Billion Question: How GTA 6 Became More Expensive Than the World’s Tallest Building
For years, fans of the Grand Theft Auto series have been eager to learn more details about the highly anticipated GTA 6: what will it be like? What new features will it bring to the franchise and the gaming industry? How much will the game cost, considering the developers’ budget to produce the new edition?
You may have heard that the game’s budget exceeds $2 billion, making GTA 6 the most expensive game in the industry’s history. For comparison, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai — the tallest structure on Earth — cost about $1.5 billion to build. The idea that a digital product could surpass an 828-meter skyscraper may seem incredible. But in today’s world, it’s entirely possible. However, there are certain nuances to this topic that are worth exploring.
The Scale of a Franchise that Demands Time and Money However, according to Take-Two Interactive’s financial reports released in May 2025, it is evident that around $1 billion was actually spent on the production of GTA 6, and all this talk of $2 billion is just rumor. Although, if you add in various costs unrelated to production and marketing, such a figure may be entirely realistic.
GTA 6 has been in development for many years, involving several studios under the Rockstar umbrella. It is a company with thousands of employees worldwide, and when such an iconic project begins, it brings together animators, engineers, AI programmers, screenwriters, mission designers, testers, localization teams, and producers in different time zones. And all of this is no small expense.
Even GTA V, released in 2013, had over a thousand people in its credits and reportedly cost around $265 million, including marketing. GTA 6 is expected to be more extensive and ambitious, so a longer production process with higher costs should come as no surprise. Each year, maintaining a global team with AAA salaries, which creates an even more detailed open world, requires more and more resources. Rockstar and Take-Two have set the date—May 26, 2026—and repeatedly confirmed their confidence in it during investor reports over the summer. Every delay is costly—in salaries and lost opportunities—but it’s also insurance that the studio will release exactly the product it envisioned. For a project with such revenue potential, delaying a few months for quality is sometimes the most financially prudent choice.
Marketing a Cultural Event, Not Just a Game
When Rockstar releases another installment of GTA, it’s not just a “software/game release” — it’s a global media moment not only for the studio, but also for the gaming community and even the wider, non-gaming world.
The costs of maintaining interest from announcement to launch — including creativity, purchasing, partnerships, live filming, music — add up very quickly. Even though everyone is eagerly awaiting GTA VI and almost everyone knows about it, that doesn’t negate the fact that the game needs marketing. Historically, marketing has been a significant part of GTA’s budgets, and analysts’ talk of a “budget of up to $2 billion” directly takes into account the promotion of the game, not just its development. This is how a video game becomes a cultural event in the first week after its release.
The marketing campaign has already included several trailers, a standalone game homepage, and advertising so comprehensive that even Hollywood studios would be jealous. And there is still a long way to go before the game’s release, scheduled for May 26, 2026.
The costs of maintaining interest from announcement to launch—including creativity, shopping, partnerships, live filming, music—add up very quickly. Even though everyone is looking forward to GTA VI and almost everyone knows about it, that doesn’t negate the fact that the game needs marketing. Historically, marketing has been a significant part of GTA budgets, and analysts’ talk of a “budget of up to $2 billion” directly takes into account the promotion of the game, not just its development. This is how a video game becomes a cultural event in the first week after its release.
So, Has a Video Game Really Become More Expensive Than the World’s Tallest Building?
If you compare them directly—the total costs of launching GTA 6 and the estimated construction costs of the Burj Khalifa—the answer is probably “yes.” The tower is an engineering marvel and a monument to ambition, but it’s a unique project. Modern GTA is a living product, a global marketing campaign, and an online platform disguised as a boxed game. The $2 billion figure is an estimate, not a verified audit, but the forces driving it upward are real and evident. And if the initial profit forecasts prove accurate, the question won’t be whether Rockstar overspent, but whether anyone else can even compete at this point.