Game publisher Rockstar is reportedly planning to officially announce the launch date for the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto 6 as early as this week, with a trailer expected in December, according to a Bloomberg report.
The highly anticipated sequel to 2013’s GTA 5, one of the best selling games of all time, has sparked a frenzy in a post-pandemic games industry that saw deals peak in 2022, according to GlobalData’s deal database.
“The current version, GTAV, has made almost $8 billion since it’s launch in 2013 – that’s almost double the global box office for both Avatar movies combined,” John Ozimek, co-founder of UK-based video games PR agency Big Games Machine, told Verdict.
“For a game that has cost between one and two billion dollars and a decade to develop there is a huge amount riding on it’s success – but there is nothing to suggest that this won’t be the biggest game of 2024,” Ozimek said.
Take-Two Interactive, the owner of Rockstar and 2K, has created speculation around Grand Theft Auto 6, repeatedly telling investors that something very big will arrive next year.
In August, Lainie Goldstein, Take-Two’s chief financial officer, told investors “record levels of operating performance” and a “significant inflection point” was coming soon.
“We are confident that the actions our teams are taking this year are preparing us for a strong trajectory of growth,” Goldstein said.
“Through our collective efforts, we continue to believe that we are positioning our business for a significant inflection point in fiscal 2025 that will culminate in us delivering new record levels of operating performance next year and beyond.”
The reported announcement of Grand Theft Auto 6 comes as deals in gaming reached an impressive peak in 2022, according to GlobalData’s deal database.
In 2022, the value global gaming deals totalled $125.9bn, a significant increase from 2021 which saw deals total $82.2bn.
In 2023 so far, according to the research company's deal database, the value of deals totalled $92.9bn.
However, the research company notes that the entire industry will be worth a whopping $470bn in less than a decade, GlobalData notes in its Thematic Intelligence: Video Games (2022) report.
Despite the success of releasing game titles and the three heavy console hitters breaking records; Microsoft’s Xbox, Sony’s Playstation and Nintendo’s Switch, the industry has been plagued with layoffs.
Over 6,100 gaming jobs have been as of October this year, with September being the worst month, according to data recorded on videogameslayoffs.com.
The gaming industry has been hit by high interest rates, rising production costs, increased competition and slowed growth - among other reasons that have been discussed by analysts and investors.
Despite layoffs, the industry is continuing to boom - with Sony's PlayStation, Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's Switch continuing to attract new users.
Nintendo recently raised its operating profit forecast as the company noted the continued success of its its six-year-old Switch console.
However, with the lack of processing power and as Grand Theft Auto 5 has never been ported to the console, it is unlikely that Nintendo will see the benefits of Grand Theft Auto 6's release.
