GTA IV: Most expensive game ever made?

By Ellie Gibson Published 1 May, 2008

Producer estimates it cost USD 100m.

Leslie Benzies, producer of Grand Theft Auto IV, has estimated the game cost Rockstar around USD 100 million to create.

Speaking to The Times Online Benzies said more than 1000 people worked on the game during its three-and-a-half year development. He said he didn't know the final cost of development for sure, but put his guess at USD 100 million.

That would make GTA IV the most expensive game ever made. Previously the record has been held by Dreamcast title Shenmue, which cost SEGA more than USD 70 million.

Will Rockstar make its money back? Well, the game sold more than 600,000 copies in the UK alone on the first day of release, and analysts reckon it could make over USD 400 million in its first week.

Benzies went on to discuss the criticism GTA IV has faced in the mainstream media. "You kill prostitutes. That's usually the objection," he said.

"There is a big fear factor here. It's the coming of the railways. It's Elvis shaking his hips. It's cars going over 25 miles an hour and making people explode.

"We've had such a beating over the past three years. If I get into a confrontation about it, once I've had my beating, I ask if they've ever played the game," he continued. "Invariably they haven't."

GTA IV this isn't the first Rockstar game to have stirred up controversy, of course. Commenting on the row over Manhunt Benzies said, "We wanted to make a horror game that would scare you in the same way a film would.

"If it's a film or a book, you can do what you want. We seem to be in a different category."

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • syphaa #1 4 years ago

    I wouldn't be surprised with the amount of research that must have been done for all the ultra details within the game. I am sure they won't struggle to repair that $100m bill! :]

  • rob230 #2 4 years ago

    Money well spent

  • BiscuitBase #3 4 years ago

    Not surprising really. I was watching the TV in Niko's apartment this morning for over half an hour, and there were no repeats. I saw about 6 different "shows", all of which would have required unique dialogue, art, code etc... They even got Ricky Gervais on to do a stand up act ffs!

  • sickpuppysoftware #4 4 years ago

    How much money has gone into DNF so far?

  • Marshall2008 #5 4 years ago

    They have probably made all of this back by now anyway, what with the 50 Million advance from Microsoft and the development payment they got from Sony to keep the 'main game' identical to the 360 version and the simultaneous release date.

    Worth every penny. The more you play the game the more you notice the little details.

  • Stu #6 4 years ago

    I'm not surprised. The one thing that is singularly most amazing about GTAIV in my opinion is the sheer depth of material that's in there. A functioning internet with page after page of stuff, what surely must be hours and hours of dialogue from passers by, cutscenes, phone dialogue, hours of TV, a vast breadth of radio, comedy routines...

  • chrisjm #7 4 years ago

    100mil copies, are you on crack?

  • sharky_ob #8 4 years ago

    Maybe, but he/she is obviously illiterate.

  • Ghost_Dog #9 4 years ago

    @mem

    You must be on crack. Your spelling is atrocious.

    It is fairly normal for a big Hollywood film to exceed $100m in this day and age.

  • Phily50 #10 4 years ago

    "Money well spent"

    +1

  • Inquisitor #11 4 years ago

    To think Shenmue cost that much to make back then, pretty amazing when you think about it, hell, especailly when you consider the install base of the dreamcast. I think every single dreamcast owner needed to buy the game to cover the costs, or something ridiculous like that.

    Can't believe how much they wasted on it, okay, some think it's an amazing game but splashing that kind of cash on a title that realistically could never break even can't have helped sega at all when they were struggling. Not hard to see why they failed when decisions like that come to light.

  • Eraysor #12 4 years ago

    It was definitely worth the money.

    And Times Online sucks!

  • rhubarbandcustard #13 4 years ago

    I call bullshit.

    Break down hollywood movie budgets and the vast percentage of money gets spent on actors, actresses, and production crew costs. This game would have cost a fraction of the reported $100 million dollar budget to make.

    They release these figures purely to justify the stupidly expensive retail costs of games.

    As the economic world is is meltdown and we will all soon be paupers I am switching purely to secondhand games. I'll buy this next year for ten quid.

    Fuck em.

  • Lexx87 #14 4 years ago

    mem, what the hell did you just type?

  • ryohazuki1983 #15 4 years ago

    Shenmue was worth the money, still play the games every now and then! Reason I bought another DC after my 1st one died was to play them agian.

  • captain-future #16 4 years ago

    seems a bit too steep... but if it's true that Microsoft shelled out a cool 50.000.000 USD for just the exclusive episodic DLC... who knows?
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/08 @ 11:09

  • aldo_14 #17 4 years ago

    rubbish were do people get ther info from we are talking about a game not even a hollywood film would barly exceed 100mil speculation this speculation that,more likely to sell 100 mill copys world wide by end of year no doubt truly a master piece of gameing .

    This years' budgets.
    Iron Man - $135m
    The Dark Knight - $180m
    Indiana Jones - $185m
    10,000BC - $105m
    Speed Racer - $120m
    The Incredible Hulk - $130m
    The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - $150m
    Quantum of Solace - $113.4m


    Most expensive film ever (according to wikipedia) - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End; $300m

  • The_Pope #18 4 years ago

    I haven't done the maths in detail but I think it's plausible enough.

    Just as with film, all you do is take the number of days / weeks / years it took to develop, multiply that by the number of staff responsible (hundreds!) and then multiply that by the salaries commanded by talented texture artists etc

    For example, 250 people at only £35,000 a year each is nearly £9 million in costs for just 12 months of dev time. With a total production cost of £50 million (translated from dorras) it's not THAT hard to believe, is it??
    Edited by 1 at 01/05/08 @ 11:27

  • peterfll #19 4 years ago

    Yes yes yes, but there's no accounting for inflation, so it's all a bit meaningless, one episode of Lost costs more than making Cleopatra etc.

    And I hope (pray) that only the tinest fraction of the $100 went on one Mr Gervias.

  • paulf #20 4 years ago

    Most expensive film ever (according to wikipedia) - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End; $300m

    just goes to show that money buys quality :S

  • Weezer #21 4 years ago

    Okay: 100 million divided by 1,000 people, divided by 3.5 years = roughly $28,500 annual salary.

    Not all 1,000 people would be on it for the whole duration, but then lead programmers will be on more like $100K a year. Publishers and marketeers are on even more.

    Then you have music licensing rights, marketing spend (God knows but huge), physical manufacture of almost a million DVDs/Blu Ray discs plus packaging (maybe over $250,000).

    $100 million? Yeah, easy.

  • chrisjm #22 4 years ago

    well i liked pirates 3 :)

    a hollywood film you also have overpaid 'stars' which inflate the cost... i bet no one on the gta team was paid anywhere near what a generic famous hollywood actor would get for a few months work vs their 3 years of work.

    this 100 million has been spent far more on the end product than a hollywood blockbuster.

  • bad09 #23 4 years ago

    I was wondering how much it cost to make, not surprising really. I'm more interested in how much they make though!

    P.S. Glad to see you're on games night again tonight Ellie, 10 for GTA I hope :)

  • aldo_14 #24 4 years ago

    Yes yes yes, but there's no accounting for inflation, so it's all a bit meaningless, one episode of Lost costs more than making Cleopatra etc.

    Apparently, the most expensive adjusted-for-inflation film is $560m (War and Peace, 1968). Followed by Pirates of the Carribbean 3.

    As an aside, Cleopatra was $293m (adjusted) / $44m (at the time)

  • thewolfiv #25 4 years ago

    i got this game yesterday, and i'm sick ,i have a us 20gb PS3 and it wont let me play the eu version of the game without a HD display aarrgghh any one got any ideas (the swap trick is no good as its my only game!)

  • Blackthorned #26 4 years ago

    Shenmue - the Nick Drake of video games.

    Or not…

  • zuljin #27 4 years ago

    To people who are wondering whether this game could ever cost $100 mill, remember that you've also got costs of some quite big stars on the credits (Ricky Gervais, Iggy Pop, Julliette Lewis as well I think...).

    Also, salary only accounts for about 1/3 of the actual cost of an employee to a company (although thats London - so probably a bit high).

  • Ryze #28 4 years ago

    "GTA IV this isn't the first Rockstar game to have stirred up controversy"...

    needs a quick edit to fix that.

  • JDub #29 4 years ago

    @thewolfiv - So you bought the now defunct 20GB PS3 without any games?

  • konnsky #30 4 years ago

    @zuljin:
    it's not london you donut, it's edinburgh.. sheesh.

  • The-Bodybuilder #31 4 years ago

    >"Previously the record has been held by Dreamcast title Shenmue, which cost SEGA more than USD 70 million"

    SHENMUUUUUEEEEEEEEE
    I get giddy everytime the name is mentioned.

  • The-Bodybuilder #32 4 years ago

    >"Can't believe how much they wasted on it, okay, some think it's an amazing game but splashing that kind of cash on a title that realistically could never break even can't have helped sega at all when they were struggling. Not hard to see why they failed when decisions like that come to light."

    As the advert goes, "There's somethings money can't buy. For everything else, there's shenmue".
    You cannot put a price on joy. Shenmue is as close to joy as a human creation can be.

  • thewolfiv #33 4 years ago

    the 20 gb is great plays original ps 1+2, i bought it with madden for 250 euros postage included from america, the same version with the 60 gb drive is going for 600+ euros online now, find the HD only thing for pal games on ntsc systems a bit crap.


    And as for Shenmue probably one of the greatest games ever undertaken, with some really beautiful scenes (the cherry blossom bit is cool, or when you first arrive in the garden of ryo's house) def need a 3rd version with todays hardware - imagine the possibilities....
    Edited by 1 at 02/05/08 @ 01:47

  • bad09 #34 4 years ago

    I want to play Shenmue again :(

  • superdelphinus #35 4 years ago

    $85 mio of that is on counsel i bet