Technology · Gaming

GTA VI Took Ten Years, Thousands of Staff, Est. $1 Billion

Rockstar Games spent more than a decade and, by independent estimates, over $1 billion on Grand Theft Auto VI. Nearly 5,000 people worked on it, while a union tribunal case in Glasgow runs on until the game's release.

By Alistair Sterling

November 15, 20262 min read

GTA VI Took Ten Years, Thousands of Staff, Est. $1 Billion

Rockstar Games spent more than 10 years and a team of nearly 5,000 people on Grand Theft Auto VI, ahead of its release. Independent estimates put the cost above $1 billion, a figure Rockstar will not confirm.

The game is expected to be the most profitable piece of entertainment ever made. Its predecessor, 2013's GTA V, sold 230 million copies.

Made in Edinburgh

Many players do not realize the series is mainly made in Scotland. Rockstar North's headquarters sits in Holyrood, in the shadow of Arthur's Seat, and remains the central hub for a team spread around the world.

GTA VI moves the action to Vice City, in the state of Leonida. It is a parody of Miami, Florida: a neon-soaked city of excess with a barely hidden criminal underworld.

One month before launch, the Edinburgh offices were quiet. Many staff had finished their work and were taking time off. On one near-empty floor, a screen counted down to the release date.

Hype and expectations

Rockstar expects GTA VI to sell tens of millions of copies and earn billions in its first year. The wider games industry is leaning on it. Studio closures, layoffs and soaring development costs have marked recent years.

The first trailer has been viewed 300 million times on YouTube alone. When footage premiered on Netflix, it almost took the streaming service's servers down.

The wait has lasted 13 years. People around the world have booked November 19 off work to play together.

Union case continues

The mood at Rockstar North is strained, and not only because of launch pressure. In Glasgow, the company is defending an employment tribunal case over the dismissal of 34 employees last year.

The workers say they were fired for union organizing. The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) represents them.

The case was due to end in October. It will now run until GTA VI's release. Jennifer Kolbe, Rockstar's head of publishing, testified a few days before the visit while former employees and union representatives protested outside.

Kolbe later sat down with Rob Nelson, co-studio head of Rockstar North and one of three creative leads on GTA VI, to show off the game. On screen, two young criminals on the run, Jason and Lucia, walked through downtown Vice City from a bar toward a nightclub.