Is Grand Theft Auto V the most expensive game ever made?

Grand Theft Auto V – which is out NEXT WEEK, don’t forget – might be the most expensive game ever made.

That’s if the numbers from a report in The Scotsman are correct. It reckons that Rockstar’s game has a combined development and marketing budget of 170m.

In 2010 predecessor Grand Theft Auto IV was named by one report as the most expensive game ever made with a development budget of $100m (63m).

However, most observers concur that Star Wars: The Old Republic has since surpassed this with a development budget of somewhere between $150m-$200m (95m-127m).

Without knowing how much of this supposed 170m figure accounts for marketing it’s impossible to draw any firm conclusions. It’s certainly true to say that Rockstar’s global marketing budget for the game will be absolutely colossal.

A triple-A blockbuster title will typically have a marketing budget of anything up to 4m in the UK alone.

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