GTA IV could be most expensive game ever made

54 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski Apr 30th 2008 3:00PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

As we wait to hear about the bagiggles of cash Grand Theft Auto IV is making out in the land of retail, we wondered how much the production actually cost. Speaking with The Times, GTA IV producer Leslie Benzies "hazards a guess" that the game cost $100 million to make, with about 1,000 people working on it.

If true, GTA IV would be the most expensive game ever made according to the Guiness World Records Gamer's Edition, which has Shenmue on the Dreamcast as the most expensive, at a cost of $70 million to develop (we don't know if that takes inflation into account). Whatever the cost of GTA IV, we're sure Rockstar will make (or have already made) it back.

Tags: grand-theft-auto-iv, grandtheftautoiv, gta-iv, gtaiv, leslie-benzies

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

nerrrrrrd: Apr 30th 2008; 3:04PM

Shenmue was that much? just to find out who murdered by father by spending days loading boxes at the docks with a forklift? oh that and some space harrier action!

FOXHOUND: Apr 30th 2008; 3:09PM

"I'm looking for some sailors..."

riggs: Apr 30th 2008; 3:10PM

i dunno about you, but collecting those figurines led me to my fathers killer.

Ethan: Apr 30th 2008; 3:46PM

Dude, they modelled the veins in his arms.

But, in all seriousness, they'd already made most of it on the saturn, but I still have no idea where the money went. It's unbelievable that Shenmue II was actually cheaper.

Tiptup300: Apr 30th 2008; 8:59PM

Hey, Shenmue was amazing. My 3rd disc was bugged so I never finished the end. :(

Laggy: Apr 30th 2008; 11:25PM

How bout try lucky hit?

Geo: Apr 30th 2008; 3:05PM

WOW!!! it is that expensive to develop a game..?

DangerMouse: Apr 30th 2008; 3:15PM

Yep, which is also why small companies are disappearing. It's too damn expensive to create next-get titles.

Kodros: Apr 30th 2008; 3:35PM

No, it's not that expensive to develop a game. Rockstar just went all out on GTA4 because they knew that they would make the money back. 99.99% of the games out there don't have 1000 employees working on a single game.

sicsided: Apr 30th 2008; 4:57PM

in the last generation, and early into xbox 360's dev cycles, it was around $15 million. Now its jumped to $30 or $50 million depending on the game. Usually.

JakubK666 (Ninja Defence Force): Apr 30th 2008; 5:37PM

@ DangerMouse

They're not disappearing.They're just making shovelware for Wii.

Burnt Meatloaf: May 1st 2008; 4:26AM

I hear Hollywood is in the same boat. Imagine that!

If you feel it necessary to spend upwards of $30 million to make a game, then you are just stupid.

I'm all for great graphics and all, but when I see games like Fatal Inertia, my first thought is, "what, these guys seriously don't know that the game will suck even with all the water effects carefully rendered with pixel shaders?"

Games cost a lot because the developers are idiots. They have poor priorities and just waste time and money. What, your graphical splendorfest isn't selling? Maybe you should spend less on development and more on marketing. Whining that games cost too much and defecting to the Wii isn't going to help, because you're not attacking the core problem. You need to understand why your costs are out of control, not buy all of Nintendo's BS and think that you can make tons of money by just not spending anything on development.

If the game ever gets released, Duke Nukem Forever will probably be the most expensive game ever. 3D Labs had to release several other games to fund the development of DNF, just to receive a collective "meh" from the community.

License to ill: Apr 30th 2008; 3:06PM

And could be the most profitable...

Raikage (LDF CRAB BATTLE!!!): Apr 30th 2008; 3:14PM

That's what I was thinking...

Lone Starr: Apr 30th 2008; 3:07PM

Not only that, it costs little children their futures because it teaches them to be monsters who kill prostitutes for fun.

/sarcasm

FOXHOUND: Apr 30th 2008; 3:08PM

Looking at that picture - I have to ask a silly, but simple question:

(Q) Is the "IV" numeral in GTA IV for the regular versions in foil/silver coloured covering as well?

...btw, I retract(by a degree)what I said about reserving the game at Blockbu$ter earlier. In addition to my friend's employee discount for the Special Edition of GTAIV, they gave me a framed picture of Niko standing by a bridge along with that PS3 version. Though I'm not planning on hanging that up anytime soon, it was a nice gesture. :]

JJ Rooster: Apr 30th 2008; 8:42PM

The regular edition on the 360 has the silver/embossed cover, that I know.

riggs: Apr 30th 2008; 3:08PM

and then some.

DangerMouse: Apr 30th 2008; 3:11PM

They'll recoup that in a month or less. Regardless, that's a lot of money.

License to ill: Apr 30th 2008; 3:29PM

Um they recouped that on day one...

DangerMouse: Apr 30th 2008; 3:40PM

Which is why i said less than a month. That way, i'm not technically wrong ;)

BrokenMonkey: Apr 30th 2008; 3:12PM

Speaking of Shenmue, are they ever going to make another one? I loved those games! Shenmue 2 was the reason I was hanging on to my Dreamcast for so long, then when I learned it was going to Xbox instead I finally decided to sell it. I even watched the whole "Shenmue Movie" that came with Shenmue 2, despite the fact that it was just a collection of cut-scenes and gameplay from the first game (which means I had seen it all before).

Ethan: Apr 30th 2008; 3:51PM

To be honest it's just rude of them not to round the story off. They could do a comic or something.

xFenixKnightx: Apr 30th 2008; 3:15PM

Bye bye Halo3 record!

Euphoria Physics Engine at its best right here baby! SICK!!
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w187/cfester/GTA4lul-1.gif

shamgar00: Apr 30th 2008; 3:21PM

you're right the best ever I have never seen anything more awesome than a guy flying off a motorcycle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG5qDeWHNmk

shamgar: Apr 30th 2008; 3:24PM

So....I misread you're comment and I am a jackass.

xFenixKnightx: Apr 30th 2008; 3:26PM

It's cool. lol

tmacairjordan87: Apr 30th 2008; 3:31PM

I was already convinced euphoria's the new thing, but my thoughts were reinforced last night when I bailed out of my friend's banshee in free mode at full speed on one of the game's bridges.

I don't think I've ever laughed so hard watching my character bounce 50 times and off of cars.

LaughingTarget: Apr 30th 2008; 4:30PM

Endorphin is cool and all, but I don't like how it highlights just how bad the rest of the physics environment is (in all of gaming really). People don't bounce like rubber after falling long distances onto hard objects (they splatter, but I figure GTA4 has enough controversy already), police cruisers can't flip over a fully loaded semi, among other Bizzaro-world things.

tmacairjordan87: Apr 30th 2008; 6:03PM

As for the people splattering thing, GTA 4 has that. When I missed my jump from the helicopter to the empire state building and fell to the ground I just splatted (even though I was kinda hoping for a crazy bounce).

The car crashes are kinda unrealistic cause euphoria only works for people and I think everything else is run on havok.

Mr Khan: Apr 30th 2008; 9:27PM

That's the second time i've seen you call it "Endorphin," Laughing Target

What's the deal?

Markez (MKWii 4339-2878-5120): Apr 30th 2008; 3:21PM

Fox, I'm with you on that one. Bought it at Blockbuster after work the other day and got handed the framed picture. Was a real "WTF!?" moment. Nice frame tho.

I would've gotten further playing last night, but ended up just watching TV in Roman's apartment for awhile...

7718: Apr 30th 2008; 7:27PM

"the Mens Room" with Bas Rooten and that flimsy umm, girly man had me and my wife rolling with laughter. I was sitting there thinking, am I seriously having this much fun watching pretend TV in a videogame? "Can you see me now!!?? I will knife fight anybody in the audiance right now!! Cowards!"

LMFAO! Incredible, I can't believe OXM said the TV was the least funny of the entertainment options in the game, OMGWTF!

umm....hello???: Apr 30th 2008; 3:27PM

...I was thinking one of the FinalFantasy games would be the most expensive game to make...

WAP: Apr 30th 2008; 3:38PM

Was Wikipedia really the best source you guys could come up with?

Josh: Apr 30th 2008; 3:40PM

Didn't Microsoft give them 50 million just for the exclusive downloaded content? That's half of what it cost to develop right there. I think Rockstar is gonna make it just fine.

Korova: Apr 30th 2008; 3:42PM

Guiness records are not inflation adjusted.

Source: solipsis.

mcbexx: Apr 30th 2008; 3:53PM

Mark my words - once Duke Nuke'm Forever get's released, it will be the most expensive game ever.

Mark my words!

Nah, who am I kidding.

LaughingTarget: Apr 30th 2008; 3:58PM

I remember the guys making Vanguard brag about how they passed the $100 million mark when trying to tell us how good it would be.

driven2sin: Apr 30th 2008; 4:12PM

i thought they paid all their workers in crack? did the rates go up?

EihBeir: Apr 30th 2008; 4:26PM

1,000 people? Wow!

Someone show N'Gai a trailer so he can let us know if any of them are black.

Korova: Apr 30th 2008; 6:13PM

If its a 1000 simultaneous positions then yeah, Wow! If its a thousand different people employed in the course of several year's development, then whatever. They go through QC testers like popcorn.

Bad Mojo: Apr 30th 2008; 4:49PM

Imagine how expensive it'll be when they have to reprint discs or replace busted machines due to their "issues."

I've got it but too scared to even crack it open and pop it into the PS3 :P

pavs: Apr 30th 2008; 5:35PM

dont forget that in a year or two GTAIV will probably hit PCs, just like the previous titles. Which means even more cash for Rockstar.
And while I'm talking here, just want to ask the people who bought the 360 version, Is the "grand theft auto" logo shiny around the letters on the 360 box?

xFenixKnightx: Apr 30th 2008; 5:50PM

Yea they are shiny and the letter themselves are actually raised so you can feel them when you run your fingers across the box. Its not flat like every other game. I thought it was kinda cool when I fist saw it. Just a little extra detail. I'm guessing the PS3 version is the same?

xFenixKnightx: Apr 30th 2008; 6:11PM

Verified, yup same although at first in this pic it didn't seem that way. R* is the shizz!

un1qu3 n3wy0rk: Apr 30th 2008; 6:01PM

In order for the Shenmue developers to turn a profit every Dreamcast owner would need to buy the game twice.

But after one day of sales I'm willing to bet Rockstar is already in the green.

ColossalHat: Apr 30th 2008; 8:53PM

I wonder how close behind this figure MGS4 will be, if it's behind it at all.

Mr Khan: Apr 30th 2008; 9:29PM

What's wrong with Wiki?

I mean, if you want to hunt down info through a million and a half resources, that's cool, i suppose

Mr Khan: Apr 30th 2008; 9:31PM

wtf, that was supposed to be a reply to WAP

this torrentings playing havoc with other network functions

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