It's not an uncommon thing these days for studios to dump massive amounts of money into a game or movie budget, hoping to see the kind of returns that would ensure all those who worked on the game would be able to retire to some deserted island and live like hogs for the rest of their days.
Such was the case for Rockstar and Grand Theft Auto V. News recently came out that the famed developer had spent a massive amount of dollars and dimes to make GTA every bit as good as it certainly appears to be, in the amount of $265 million. Who would've thought that working with real life gangsters would be so costly?
The Scotsman was the first to report the whopping figure, with WCCFTech noticing that the amount easily outstrips not only some of the biggest budget games of the last few years, but those of films as well.
Rockstar outspent big name titles like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Halo 3, but "Tron: Legacy," "Inception," "The Avengers," and "Avatar" as well. As a matter of fact, the only movie in recent years Rockstar didn't outspend was "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End," which neared $300 million.
Given the amount of pre-orders for the upcoming game, it looks like Rockstar will not only easily recoup their investment, but make a healthy profit as well. Though unnamed, The Scotsman claims "industry experts believe its latest incarnation will rewrite the record books, shifting 25 million copies in the first year alone, achieving sales of £1bn," or roughly $1.6 billion.
GTA V centers around three characters performing a number of heists, each with their own reason for doing so. Players have the ability to switch back and forth between each character on the fly (when not taking part in a mission). First up, you have Michael, who seems to act as a sort of leader of the trio. He's a career criminal whose patience for his family and his wallet are both running dry. Next up, the story is set for repo man Franklin who wants out of the life he's dug himself into. Finally, the resident redneck Trevor, definitely the most colorful of the bunch, but also potentially the most dangerous
Rockstar has confirmed there will be multiple endings, and the story will be about the same length as Red Dead Redemption, at about 25 - 30 hours, and that's before the massive amount of secondary things to do, or release of the obligatory DLC, so this will be a monster of a game.
Grand Theft Auto V hits PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next week, September 17.