GTA 6's release window possibly revealed by Take-Two

[midian182]

Forward-looking: It’s a question that’s raged on for years: when will GTA 6 arrive? Thanks to Take-Two’s annual 10-K SEC filing, which includes its plans for marketing spend for the next five years, we could have our answer—sometime between 2023 and 2024.

As reported by VentureBeat, Take-Two’s filing shows that it plans to spend $89 million on marketing between April 2023 and March 2024. That’s more than double the marketing budget for any other year over the next half a decade, suggesting GTA 6 will arrive sometime during this 12-month period.

In a note to investors, industry analyst Jeff Cohen writes that marketing budgets have accurately predicted big releases in the past, including Red Dead Redemption 2.

"We are not sure how much we should be reading into this shift, but we would note that this disclosure accurately predicted the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2 prior to that game’s announcement," the note reads. "Management has spoken very confidently about the pipeline over the next five years and existing live services execution has been excellent. However, the timing of the next Grand Theft Auto remains top-of-mind for investors, particularly with the stock near all-time-highs."

2023 will mark ten years since Grand Theft Auto V launched, but there are reasons why Rockstar Games is biding its time—the main one being that GTA Online continues to be a cash cow for the company, earning millions of dollars as regular content is released. Additionally, the next-gen consoles will be firmly established by 2023, giving what will likely be a PS5/Xbox Series X/PC-only title a larger audience.

Take-Two recently revealed in its earnings call that it has 93 games planned for the next five years. 63 of those will be "core gaming experiences," 17 will be "mid-core or arcade," and 13 are casual. Out of the 93, 21 will be exclusive to mobile, while 72 will be on console, PC, and streaming services such as Stadia. Almost half of the planned games will come from existing IPs, with rest being brand new properties.

Rumors that GTA 6 is in the early stages of development stretch back to 2016, and in 2018 we heard the setting could return to Vice City. There was also a rumor in 2019 that it would be set in multiple cities, and that the game would be a next-gen console/PC exclusive.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85389-take-two-could-have-revealed-gta-6-release.html

 

[3volv3d]

Seems like a lot of money to spend on advertising for a game that sells itself.
Like the CoD series, which personally hasn't been as good as when the original MW released, sells and sells, for reasons I can not fathom.
So seeing as GTA5 looked amazing, and sold amazingly well, even though the MP is a bit limp IMO, thanks to its awful network / party issues (or those it had at release), I can't see why they need to advertise it at all.
But rushing out another copy of a game that is similar to the last or any predecessor without any improvements would kill this franchise quite quickly I think. But look at CoD so again probably wrong. I know nuffin!
Lets hope if they build a map as big as they did, they don't spend 93% of the time working on the city and putting all the missions there, with that small reason to head North like they did with, GTA5, and San Andreas.
Expansive, yet pointless areas. Hope to see some, DLC, opening of new maps, islands, etc. Better warfare. I expected some kind of gang / tribal warfare. Zone owning, king of the hill stuff.
I expect a lot of great things, with a big hint of disappointment.

 

[ross01]

Seems like a lot of money to spend on advertising for a game that sells itself.
Like the CoD series, which personally hasn't been as good as when the original MW released, sells and sells, for reasons I can not fathom.
So seeing as GTA5 looked amazing, and sold amazingly well, even though the MP is a bit limp IMO, thanks to its awful network / party issues (or those it had at release), I can't see why they need to advertise it at all.
But rushing out another copy of a game that is similar to the last or any predecessor without any improvements would kill this franchise quite quickly I think. But look at CoD so again probably wrong. I know nuffin!
Lets hope if they build a map as big as they did, they don't spend 93% of the time working on the city and putting all the missions there, with that small reason to head North like they did with, GTA5, and San Andreas.
Expansive, yet pointless areas. Hope to see some, DLC, opening of new maps, islands, etc. Better warfare. I expected some kind of gang / tribal warfare. Zone owning, king of the hill stuff.
I expect a lot of great things, with a big hint of disappointment.

you think apple would sell anything if they didn't have one of the best marketing campaigns in the world for their inferior products?, marketing is a vital pilar for any business to survive.

 

[tkabou]

you think apple would sell anything if they didn't have one of the best marketing campaigns in the world for their inferior products?, marketing is a vital pilar for any business to survive.

"Inferior" is highly subjective. Everyone has their favorite - just like ice cream: some like vanilla, others chocolate. Apple's iPhones have an extremely long OS support lifetime, and the CPU/GPU wipes the floor against comparable Samsung/ARM chips in benchmarks... You can not like their products because of their features, looks, CEO, etc. but the argument that Apple makes "inferior products" just doesn't really hold water.

 

[Nobodysfool]

Sad that GTA 6 won't have the involvement of Rockstar's Dan Houser, who was mostly involved in the writing of most GTA games. He also laments the current political divide in the United States, which he says might stymie the game's development.

 

[ross01]

"Inferior" is highly subjective. Everyone has their favorite - just like ice cream: some like vanilla, others chocolate. Apple's iPhones have an extremely long OS support lifetime, and the CPU/GPU wipes the floor against comparable Samsung/ARM chips in benchmarks... You can not like their products because of their features, looks, CEO, etc. but the argument that Apple makes "inferior products" just doesn't really hold water.

inferior in regards to technical specifications for the price point of the product but they have the best marketing in the world that's why they make the most money. Apple uses Samsung parts in their phones.. btw because apple doesn't actually make any hardware everything is 3rd parties except software.

 

[Mister_K]

Sounds about right for a release date. Maybe end of this year or sometime in the next we will get a teaser? Would be nice to wrap this year up with some footage...

 

[Uncle Al]

Yawn ..... we've heard it all before ....

 

[MaestroIT]

Yawn ..... we've heard it all before ....

Exactly, it was already expected around that period

 

[3volv3d]

you think apple would sell anything if they didn't have one of the best marketing campaigns in the world for their inferior products?, marketing is a vital pilar for any business to survive.

Actually yes I do. There is a vast amount of people who believe iPhones are amazing. And with no evidence to back it up. They just priced it high, its for the elite and cool. And I do get that there is the product placement in shows and stuff that help. Do they have to pay the Kardashians for example, if they own a phone and use it on screen? I wouldn't have thought so on a reality show.

 

[Vulcanproject]

10 years means this generation of consoles never got a true GTA title. GTA5 was built for 360/PS3. The port was well done and the PC version has been a spectacular success, but the game was still not really designed for PS4/Xbox One.

Assuming this is correct then at least the next game should take full advantage of next gen hardware, it will be in full swing by then.

 

[Nobina]

No matter the amount of money spent they'll make boatloads back from it.

 

[Mister_K]

10 years means this generation of consoles never got a true GTA title. GTA5 was built for 360/PS3. The port was well done and the PC version has been a spectacular success, but the game was still not really designed for PS4/Xbox One.

Assuming this is correct then at least the next game should take full advantage of next gen hardware, it will be in full swing by then.

I wonder how much they will push it. GTA:SA to IV was huge change and IV to 5 not so much. The "next-gen" consoles seem to be pretty beefyish, I wonder what Rockstar could do in terms of visuals.

Also in 2020 it should NOT be acceptable to have 30fps games, I don't care if it's 256K resolution, 60p or go home. Can't push 4K at 60? Well your game is locked to lower resolutions at 60p.

 

[Mouseface]

inferior in regards to technical specifications for the price point of the product but they have the best marketing in the world that's why they make the most money. Apple uses Samsung parts in their phones.. btw because apple doesn't actually make any hardware everything is 3rd parties except software.

Hard to beat iphone 11 or SE2020 value

 

[sorten]

I used to plan my life around GTA releases, but it has been so long that I had written off the franchise.

 

[kira setsu]

After GTA5 im done with the series, they'll make a massive technical masterpiece of a world that'll be sterile and thrown away after its story is played through, leaving you with an online mode youll only enjoy if you're rich.

 

[poohbear]

Seems like a lot of money to spend on advertising for a game that sells itself.
Like the CoD series, which personally hasn't been as good as when the original MW released, sells and sells, for reasons I can not fathom.
So seeing as GTA5 looked amazing, and sold amazingly well, even though the MP is a bit limp IMO, thanks to its awful network / party issues (or those it had at release), I can't see why they need to advertise it at all.
But rushing out another copy of a game that is similar to the last or any predecessor without any improvements would kill this franchise quite quickly I think. But look at CoD so again probably wrong. I know nuffin!
Lets hope if they build a map as big as they did, they don't spend 93% of the time working on the city and putting all the missions there, with that small reason to head North like they did with, GTA5, and San Andreas.
Expansive, yet pointless areas. Hope to see some, DLC, opening of new maps, islands, etc. Better warfare. I expected some kind of gang / tribal warfare. Zone owning, king of the hill stuff.
I expect a lot of great things, with a big hint of disappointment.

You're mentioning marketing as if it's optional. It makes or breaks businesses.

 

[Porkous]

Marketing works because most of the people in the world base their decisions on emotions. We think thus we have emotions that stir our thinking. Also it works because there are other brands out there that are shiny and beautiful and all that, so marketing helps keeping your audience on your product and not let them slip away.

Might also help those who already knew of the brand itself but needed a small hunch to jump on board, in other words, people that would already buy it if the moment was right, so you make it the right moment for them.. Something they might like (assuming they were into something else).
Talking about reaching new audiences, I heard some people wonder why GTA V was so heavy on the bandwidth of EGS since supposedly everyone had that title, right? Well, people heard about that title and either took it or left it for some reasons... not of their taste or not consistent enough to their needs.
Marketing is basically information being delivered to you at the right time imo, a reminder, etc. I noticed GTA 5 missions hinting almost at a scenario from action movies, so you could basically recommend this title to those people.