Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto VI doesn’t come out for another month, but Miami is already starting to look a lot like Vice City.
The hype around the game is hard to overstate. It arrives Nov. 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S after two delays, and eight years after Rockstar’s last major release, Red Dead Redemption 2. Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company, has never disclosed what the game cost to make, and it declined to confirm a figure to Fortune earlier this year. But a ranking compiled by gaming platform Zero1 Gaming puts its combined development and marketing budget at roughly $2 billion, making it the most expensive video game ever made. Market research firm Newzoo projects the game could generate between $3.25 billion and $5.2 billion in its first week, based on early pre-order data. Some employers are already planning around the launch; one U.S. Army unit is even offering days off to play it.
