Take-Two Spent Up To $1.5 Billion On GTA VI. The Game Drops November 19

The last Grand Theft Auto came out in 2013, and it sold a billion dollars worth of copies in three days. Take-Two has been chasing that number for 13 years, and the next one is finally locked in.

GTA VI launches November 19. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick won't say what it cost, but industry analysts will. They put the bill at $1 billion to $1.5 billion, more than most Hollywood movies and easily a record for any single video game.

The Price Tag On Top Games Is Climbing

Most blockbuster games sell for $70 to $80, but one analyst told Business Insider that GTA VI could push past that ceiling and reach three digits.

Why? Players have spent more than a decade on the same game. The fifth Grand Theft Auto has sold over 225 million copies since 2013, and global spending on video games has more than tripled to $250 billion in that time.

Take-Two is betting that hardcore fans will pay whatever the price ends up being. The stock agrees so far, with shares above $225, a market cap near $40 billion, and net bookings around $6.5 billion a year.

AI Inside The Studio - But Not Cutting Costs

Take-Two's nearly 13,000 employees use AI tools like Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini, with Zelnick saying the technology is taking over the boring tasks and freeing staff up for bigger work.

He also said AI isn't making games cheaper. "Everyone understands this creates more work, not less work," he told Business Insider, adding that bigger tools tend to fuel bigger ambitions, not smaller budgets.

Players don't all agree with that view. A 2025 survey from gaming analytics firm Quantic Foundry found 85% of gamers held a negative view of generative AI in games, and a January study from the GDC Festival of Gaming, research firm Omdia, and Game Developer found more than half of industry workers say generative AI is hurting the sector.

The CEO Behind The Bet

Zelnick is 68 and not the obvious face of a violent crime game. He says he doesn't drink, smoke, own a gun, or even play video games. He came to Take-Two in 2007 after running BMG Entertainment, video-game company Crystal Dynamics, and Twentieth Century Fox.

He took over a company trading around $14 a share. Today the stock is over $225, with the GTA franchise driving roughly $6.5 billion in annual net bookings and other hits like NBA2K, Red Dead Redemption, and Borderlands rounding out the portfolio.

Take-Two also bought one of the largest GTA fan modding platforms, FiveM, in 2023, turning a community of unofficial creators into a paid part of the business.

What To Watch

GTA VI is one product carrying a $40 billion company. The launch will set the tone for Take-Two's next several years and tell the rest of the industry whether $100 games are a real category.

The game has already been pushed back twice, from fall 2025 to May 2026 to November 19. Take-Two needs the third date to stick.