It’s estimated that 25 million copies could sell within the first year, earning a revenue of up to £1 billion. Go big or go home. 3m units alone are reserved by UK retailers.
The precise split between development and marketing isn’t known. Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 reportedly cost £127m across both disciplines.
”By any sort of commercial scale, Grand Theft Auto is easily Scotland’s largest cultural export ever. The series has sold something like 135 million copies so far,” said original GTA writer Brian Baglow.
“The series has come on not just in leaps and bounds, but in long jumps since then. It’s become far more than the sum of its parts, it’s a fully global phenomenon. This is the fifth major release, and the nice thing is that all of them have been made here in Scotland.”
He continued: ”It is a massive cultural and creative success. It’s arguably bigger than the next Star Wars film, and the games industry has been behind GTA from the get-go. I’d really like to see the UK government acknowledge the fact one of the biggest entertainment franchises in the world was made here.”
Analysts are expecting Grand Theft Auto V to shatter launch week records in the UK, which is currently held by Call of Duty: Black Ops at 2 million copies. UK retailers have been requested by Rockstar to prevent copies arriving early to customers as it releases internationally next week, September 17th for Xbox 360 and PS3.
