Grand Theft Auto is a cultural phenomena among a wide variety of gamers. With the original game having launch in 1997 for MS-DOS and Windows PC, it’s expanded out to encompass now six main versions with supporting content on PC and all major consoles.
GTA is successful partly because it’s built on an open-world framework that scratches a lot of itches, some more controversial than others. In the game, you play a criminal protagonist. There are hundreds of initiatives to build your influence in the game. Sure, you can be a fairly neutral character throughout the story, but for the most part the game is more about getting your hands dirty by working with criminal undergrounds and using the city as your own personal playground as you see fit. Or, you can spend your time racing fancy cars around the streets, or steal a plane and get a great view of the city from above.
The latest sequel in the series is GTA VI/6 (officially labeled “VI”, but honestly, it’s easier just to type the single digit “6” at times). You’re reportedly able to cause all the same mischief, and much more, than you could in the previous games. Naturally, the game’s graphics and general functionality are all updated to accommodate the capabilities of modern hardware, ray-tracing graphics and all. For me personally, I’m looking forward to the technological achievements as I race a car around the streets in the wrong direction.
“GTA V did a billion in three days, this one (GTA 6) is doing a billion in an hour, easy.” – Tom Henderson, Industry analyst
The game took nearly an astounding $2 billion to make. You read that right, a BILLION, not a measly million. Unbelievably, or perhaps believably, given the history of the game thus far, pre-orders for GTA VI are projected to reach $3 billion, and that’s just on console. The PC portion is likely to be at least 40% or more of the end-game total, so to speak.
There’s a lot more to unpack here, from who gets that $3 billion, the ethics of the game itself, and how it’ll affect the standard minimum bar for other games that gamers expect of the same quality but won’t have $2 billion to throw around.
What do you think of GTA VI’s instant success and the future of games from this success?
