The co-founder of Devolver Digital has posited that the highly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 is befitting of the "AAAAA" label. For decades, the term "AAA" has been used as shorthand to describe the most ambitious games with huge development and marketing budgets behind them, but it appears that the unprecedented hype around GTA 6 could warrant the addition of two more As to the game's scope descriptor.
AAA games usually come from big publishers like Sony, Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, and of course, Take Two. More recently, Ubisoft even toyed with the AAAA label to market its 2024 live-service title Skull and Bones and justify a whopping $70 price tag, but that effort went down in ridicule after the game posted a disappointing commercial performance. Against this backdrop, Rockstar Games' much-awaited next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series has been singled out as something else entirely.
GTA 6 is the End of an Era for the Grand Theft Auto Franchise
The upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 will mark the end of an era for the franchise in at least one way.
Devolver Digital Co-Founder Reckons GTA 6 is a AAAAA Game
Speaking to IGN, Devolver Digital co-founder Nigel Lowrie recently declared that GTA 6 could be considered the first real AAAAA game. He argued that no other series in gaming matches GTA's sheer scope, scale, and cultural weight. "There are AAA games and then there's AAAA games, and I'd argue that Grand Theft Auto is potentially the AAAAA game," said Lowrie. There is undoubtedly stratospheric anticipation going into GTA 6's launch in May 2026, and Lowrie believes that the game is "just bigger than anything else" and demands great attention.
GTA 6 itself does look much more technically advanced than the usual AAA release, with both the game's trailers having shown off extremely beautiful visuals, highly realistic animations, sprawling landscapes, and more. In fact, GTA 6 is rumored to have racked up a $1 billion budget in the eight-odd years it's been in development, which would likely cement it as the most expensive game to make in history. Despite that, analyst projections estimate that GTA 6 might generate more than $10 billion in revenue, with as much as $7.6 billion accrued in the game's first two months on the market.
There are AAA games and then there's AAAA games, and I'd argue that Grand Theft Auto is potentially the AAAAA game; it's just bigger than anything else both in the scope and scale of the game and the kind of cultural impact that it has and the attention it demands.
Lowrie's comments definitely feed into the fairly-valid existing notion that many in the industry hold: GTA 6 will be a cultural phenomenon at launch that'll end up overshadowing everything else around it, so it comes as no surprise that other studios are actively looking to get out of the Rockstar juggernaut's blast radius. Interestingly, Devolver Digital previously joked about releasing a game alongside GTA 6 on May 26, 2026, but Lowrie now says that he's not willing to "risk the livelihood" of a development team and the "future of the game they've worked on for five years," which is the prudent decision to make.
OpenCritic Reviews
- Released
- November 19, 2026
- ESRB
- Rating Pending - Likely Mature 17+
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
