A billion-dollar video game budget may seem surprising at first glance, but it starts to make sense once you consider that a modern game often has just as many moving pieces as a Hollywood production. You need actors, writers, programmers, animators, designers and composers among others to make an expansive open-world game. And short of a few outliers like the Avatar series, movies are typically in active production for a couple of years. GTA VI has been in active development for closer to a decade. Once a game is nearing completion, it usually goes through a rigorous testing process that requires yet another team.

You're viewing the US edition You can switch to the UK or AU homepage at any time using this menu. Unseen events that unleashed a half-mile wide glacial sword of Damocles that's now feared to have killed thousands, explained by DEEP DIVE Guitar legend's family devastated after his iconic home containing priceless treasures is demolished King Harald is dead at 89: Norway's monarch passes away after hospital stay as King Charles pays tribute to his cousin Inside Dolly Parton's bitter family feud as secret deathbed conversations over $450M inheritance are revealed: Who gets what... and mysterious outsider holding the key I'll say what no one else will about Lindsay Clancy's husband Patrick: KENNEDY Canada's Mark Carney tries to give Trump a'reality' check as he rejects the renaming of Lake Ontario Lindsay Clancy's shocking plan to celebrate her freedom: Preparations for life outside jail... a new career... and horror awaiting her if all fails Inside Dolly Parton's quirky real estate ...

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Look Up Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Trending Now Say More Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Switch Off In My Bag All Series We might finally see some non-leaked gameplay, maybe. Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers.

Mashable Selects Look Up Mashable Voices Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Safety Net Creator Hub Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Switch Off Trending Now In My Bag All Series New'GTA 6' plane video leak suggests CyberLeek has playable version of the game A group called CyberLeek released a new video with a shocking end. Do the GTA 6 leakers have a build of the actual game? At this point, leaks showing alleged gameplay footage from the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI video game are a seemingly daily occurrence. However, the latest video footage from the leaker group known as CyberLeek contains a clip at the end that points to something more shocking: If the clip is legitimate, it suggests the leakers may actually have a playable version of GTA 6. (The clip is currently making the rounds on Reddit, X, file-sharing platforms, and gaming forums, and it isn't hard to find.) The latest GTA 6 video leak from CyberLeek shows gameplay footage of a plane flying over a city, with the city landscape appearing highly detailed in this flyover.

Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Safety Net Creator Hub Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable Selects Switch Off Trending Now In My Bag VidCon with Mashable All Series GTA 6 release delay: These signs suggest it's actually releasing this time You probably don't have to worry about another delay. Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Take it from this guy: it's coming out in November.

Look Up Say More Versus Creator Hub Switch Off Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Trending Now Safety Net In My Bag VidCon with Mashable Back to School Furtastic All Series Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

During my three-decade career as a games journalist I have written a lot of "most anticipated games of the year" articles, and they nearly always have a familiar theme: "Well, the lineup is dominated by sequels (yawn), but at least there are one or two original titles to look forward to!" From today's vantage point that ennui over the predictability of the games industry looks incredibly quaint. We didn't know how good we had it. The past five years have seen seismic shifts in the mainstream industry, mostly connected to the irresistible rise of "live service" games such as Fortnite, GTA Online and Genshin Impact, which survive over multiple years through voracious subscription models. The biggest are insanely profitable: since its launch in 2017, Fortnite is estimated to have earned 20bn ( 15.7bn), maintaining 500 million player accounts into its sixth year. GTA Online still makes an estimated 500m a year ( 399m), more than a decade after its initial release.

Two years ago, the long and lucrative relationship between Electronic Arts and Fifa broke down, with EA taking its ball home and launching EA Sports FC, a new brand for its footie sim series. Fifa president Gianni Infantino made a sulky declaration that he would find a new developer and that, "the only authentic, real game that has the Fifa name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans". This seemed like a ludicrous boast: EA had 20 years of experience making mainstream football sims – an expensive and highly sophisticated endeavour. How could Fifa hope to find a studio capable of competing? Well, it looks as if the global football body may have found its new best friend.

Rockstar has released the trailer of Grand Theft Auto VI, the next game in the blockbuster video game franchise a day earlier than expected. It's been a decade since Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto V. While fans have been more than able to keep themselves busy with GTA Online and a few re-releases, they've been waiting patiently (or impatiently) for more single-player action. The wait's now much shorter as Rockstar has revealed the first official look at the game's debut trailer. As indicated by a recent teaser image and various rumors, GTA VI will be set in Leonida, Rockstar's take on Florida, and largely centered on Vice City, the series' stand in for Miami. Given that the trailer features a ton of Instagram-style live streaming, GTA VI seems to be a contemporary game, rather than one set in the '80s like 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

The highly-anticipated next installment of the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise will feature a playable female protagonist for the first time, according to a report. Developer Rockstar Games first announced it was working on GTA VI earlier this year, writing in a February statement that'active development of the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well under way'. Now a report in Bloomberg reveals that GTA VI will be the first to let players take on the role of a female lead character in its story mode. The woman, who is said to be'Latina', reportedly will be one of a pair of leading characters in a story influenced by the bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde. People familiar with the game told Bloomberg that developers are being cautious not to'punch down' by making jokes about marginalised groups, in contrast to previous games.