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GTA VI Gameplay Reveal Features Licensed Music Across Genres

Rockstar Games' first major look at Grand Theft Auto 6 included licensed music across multiple genres and a reported development budget above $1 billion.

Grand Theft Auto 6 gameplay reveal

Rockstar Games has released its first major look at Grand Theft Auto 6, a 26-minute gameplay reveal that includes licensed music spanning rock, rap and other genres.

The footage also showed gameplay. The soundtrack arrives as the franchise has built music expectations over nearly 30 years.

Securing the licensed tracks likely involved significant expense. Take-Two, Rockstar’s parent company, estimates the game’s development budget at roughly $1 billion to $1.5 billion, which would make it the most expensive video game ever produced.

Budget comparisons#

Other major titles have had lower reported development costs:

  • The Last of Us: Part II and Horizon: Forbidden West were disclosed accidentally through documents submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) concerning Xbox, with each costing more than $200 million to develop.
  • Court documents revealed last year that Activision spent around $700 million developing Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War alone.

Soundtrack and launch#

With a story playthrough of about 80 hours, players will have repeated opportunities to hear the licensed soundtrack while driving around Vice City.

Grand Theft Auto 6 launches on PS5 and Xbox Series on November 19.

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