Shocking GTA 6 costs! Take-Two boss reveals the truth about the gigantic delay and budget
GTA 6 will be released on November 19, 2026. The astronomic budget of the game will definitely pay off, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is confident this is the final deadline, even though the production has had a few serious delays along the way.
GTA 6 has a monstrous price! Take-Two boss reveals the truth about the huge delay and budget - Grand Theft Auto VI
GTA 6 is set to release on November 19, 2026, however we all know that this project has had numerous delays. The release date was originally announced for Fall 2025, then was pushed back to May 2026, before finally settling on the current November date. But in a new interview, Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick suggested they were internally targeting an even earlier release window – around spring of 2025.
Speaking to David Sienra in a new video feature on his career, Zelnick said GTA 6 is
“about 18 months behind the original date… not much more”.
That suggests that a plan to release the game even in spring 2025, even if never officially announced, has always been in place. Assuming it is true, the project is significantly behind schedule.
Zelnick however has publicly said that he wants to provide the developers at Rockstar Games with whatever they need to achieve “perfection.” There is of course a huge pressure on the game to deliver the highest quality and beat any possible sales records.
Earlier this month Business Insider reported that Take-Two has spent between $4 billion and $6 billion on GTA 6 so far. Speaking with the publication, Zelnick did not provide a specific amount, but openly admitted that the project was expensive. To properly put this budget into context – most AAA games where the media writes about costs hover in the range of a few hundred million dollars.
For example, a shooter from the studio Bungie, released recently, was supposed to bring in over a billion złoty. Last year also saw the first public disclosure of the astronomical costs of producing the Call of Duty series. Activision reportedly poured about $700 million into Black Ops Cold War alone, however that number included the full life cycle for the title, according to court documents. GTA 6 wins them all, clearly.
GTA 6 Real Dimez Screenshots
Bearing in mind that GTA 6 is set to be the biggest entertainment premiere in history, reports of such astronomical development costs for the game are not surprising at all. Work on it has been ongoing for a very long time. Some of the thousands of Rockstar employees have reportedly been working on the title for almost ten years.
"Production costs have grown over the years, but the company tries to provide our teams with 'unlimited financial, creative, and human resources, so they can then strive for perfection"
Zelnick said in a recent interview with Bloomberg. He also noted that:
"The marketing machine will start in full swing in the summer, right before the scheduled November release date"
Fans cannot wait for the third trailer and the start of pre-orders. There are tons of various theories floating around the net, some of which will very doubt turn out to be pure nonsense. The title is under such intense scrutiny that even the most trivial details become the subject of heated internet debates in a flash.
However, the head of the company looks very confident. – Most people believe – he told Senra in an interview – that this series is the most valuable entertainment property ever created. But he wouldn’t say how much money the cycle had made over the years, though he did smile and say, "There's a lot of it." With “sixes” it will be no different, for sure.
Zelnick is also really, really convinced that the game will no longer make a mistake and will really come out on November 19th. When asked how he deals with not knowing when the title will finally come out, bearing in mind the promise to give the creators as much time as they need, he answered very firmly:
"November 19th, that much I know. That has been stated."
