Get ahead of the game: Grand Theft Auto VI and the future of content creation

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably amongst the 184 million (or so) people who saw the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer that debuted at the end of last year. 

If so, you won’t need much introduction to this title’s potential arrival in 2025 as the single biggest entertainment event in history – with a budget rumoured to be circa $2 billion across production and marketing. 

There may come a much more fundamental development – one that could have a profound effect on how we create and consume media in the future.

If you extrapolate the previous GTAV’s $265 million budget to its current estimated lifetime revenue of 7.7 billion dollars (a roughly 27-fold ROI), you could be forgiven for thinking that the amount of money GTA VI makes will be truly astronomical.

However, the truth is that, while it will of course break all existing records, the actual ROI will be much reduced as a percentage – this is mainly because the production costs of making and advertising games have gone up massively vs audience spend. As an agency which works with some of the biggest games in the world, we’re witnessing this first-hand. 

Don’t get me wrong, GTAVI will still make an eye-watering amount of money, but, beneath this headline, there may come a much more fundamental development – one that could have a profound effect on how we create and consume media in the future.

Imagine that GTAVI not only arrives with the expected global cultural impact, but also acts as a launch for a high-quality and easily accessible content creation ecosystem.

To explain; in early 2023, Rockstar, the creators of the GTA games, acquired a company called Cfx.re. This was a small but significant acquisition in that Cfx.re were the owners of FiveM and RedM - two ‘RP’ (Roleplaying) servers for Rockstar’s GTA V and Read Dead Redemption 2 games. 

Now, stay with me here. RP servers are increasingly popular spaces where people use custom (‘modded’) versions of a game to roleplay characters and situations - creating a variety of different types of content, ranging from comedy to drama. Essentially, they use the game as a content-creation device. 

RP servers are increasingly popular spaces where people use custom versions of a game to roleplay characters and situations.

So, what would inspire Rockstar to buy this company – a company that it had previously been keen to disincentivise from operating?  

This would unlock content-creation within a genre which young audiences are increasingly receptive to.

My hypothesis is that Rockstar is planning to roll out an RP element as part of the full release of GTAVI – and use the existing RP community, perhaps augmented by big name creators as they did for the launch of Red Dead 2, as a way of launching this concept into the mainstream audience.

“Why should I care”, you ask? 

Well, imagine that GTAVI not only arrives with the expected global cultural impact, but also acts as a launch for a high-quality and easily accessible content creation ecosystem – essentially an unlimited film or TV studio-set in which you and your friends can create your own film, or drama or comedy programme.

This would unlock content-creation within a genre which young audiences are increasingly receptive to. 

This would unlock content-creation within a genre which young audiences are increasingly receptive to (look at how many of your kids watch Roblox or Minecraft-created content, for example.) Imagine also, that Rockstar have a burgeoning relationship with Netflix which has published the GTA Trilogy as part of its gaming push. 

Something big is coming around the corner: whole new models and ecosystems of content creation that will have their own generation methods, engaged audiences and native channels.

So, you have the premier entertainment IP of our time, potentially providing the means to create unlimited and (in visual terms at least) high-quality content across multiple genres, a huge potential audience and a global behemoth video streamer (which as per all the streamers, is struggling with the challenge of servicing its audiences with the necessary volume of content vs rising costs of production).  

In short, you have the potential for a complete content ecosystem, with clear value and roles for all partners within.

Above: Trailer for Netflix's GTA trilogy in partnership with Rockstar

Rockstar is not the only one looking to leverage its game as a content creation tool – Roblox is investing heavily, and so is Epic Games in Fortnite, where it has recently added its Metahuman software to the Fortnite Creator setup to enhance the ability to animate with realistic characters.

For the most agile and forward-thinking, it may also present incredible opportunities to connect with young audiences.

In summary, something big is coming around the corner: whole new models and ecosystems of content creation that will have their own generation methods, engaged audiences and native channels.

This will add to the already groaning pile of challenges that agencies and advertisers currently face – but, for the most agile and forward-thinking, it may also present incredible opportunities to connect with young audiences.