Grand Theft Auto VI: What to expect from this year’s biggest game release

Thirteen years is a long time between instalments, so it’s not an exaggeration to say that Grand Theft Auto fans have been patient.

It’s also not hyperbole to call Grand Theft Auto VI “highly anticipated”. The game has already been delayed twice, and its November 19 drop date can’t come soon enough.

It is a proper blockbuster and is slated to be the biggest release in gaming this year, its trailers have clocked hundreds of millions of views. Anything less than a full-throated success would be a shock to the whole industry.

And it would have to be with the cost of its development estimated at $US1 billion, according to IGN.

Previously, Grand Theft Auto V in 2013 set a release day sales record of $US815.7 million, and expectations are that this upcoming game may surpass that. To put that record into perspective, the highest ever opening weekend for a movie is Avengers: Endgame, which grossed $US1.2 billion but over four days not one.

Except, Grand Theft Auto VI has already generated controversy, but this time for an off-screen decision not an onscreen content one.

For the first time, Grand Theft Auto will only be made available as a digital download and not as a physical disc. This is a huge blow to collectors, but more so to retailers who aren’t going have that foot traffic into their stores during release time or in the re-sale frame.

Gaming retailers are already struggling – Australian chain EB Games has shut a number of stores including all of its New Zealand locations – and Grand Theft Auto’s decision makes it even harder, as does Sony’s recent announcement it will end support for new physical disc games from 2028.

Grand Theft Auto VI will have a physical “copy” you can buy from a shop, but it’s just a box with a download code, probably for the total diehards who want the spine of the box on their shelf to complete the set.

The Grand Theft Auto video games, developed by Rockstar, are one of the great stalwarts of the gaming industry, having clocked up several super successful chapters in its franchise.

In the time since its most recent release in 2013, Rockstar’s parent company, Take Two Interactive, reported $US10.58 billion of revenue just for the Grand Theft Auto games.

It’s come a long way since 1997, when the first Grand Theft Auto game came on the scene, originally developed by DMA Studios in Scotland (the same people who made Lemmings) as a concept called Race ‘n’ Chase, a generic-ish cops and criminals racing game, and the player was a police officer in pursuit of the baddies.

The light-bulb moment came when the creators thought to reverse the dynamic – what if the player got to act out as the villains instead, going on joy-rides, stealing cars and committing hit-and-runs.

This did not please the British Parliament’s House of Lords, where some members implored it be refused classification, which would prevent its legal sale. The moral panic from politicians and tabloid papers lit a fire and was the best marketing the developers could have hoped for.

But maybe it wasn’t just crossing fingers - IGN reported that the developer’s publicist had been behind the outrage campaign.

The franchise became a magnet for controversies thanks to its lurid portrayals of violence where players amassed points for criminal and deviant behaviour. One mission asked players to instigate a drug war between Haitian and Cuban gangs while another involved infiltrating a drug operation and killing its leaders.

Grand Theft Auto experimented with adding near-explicit sexual content via minigames but it backfired and resulted in a class action lawsuit.

One American lawyer, Jack Thompson, sued Rockstar, game retailers and even Sony repeatedly, one time on behalf of a man named Devin Moore who had killed three police officers. Thompson claimed Moore’s obsession with Grand Theft Auto contributed to his crimes.

Lindsay Lohan once sued the game makers, alleging in a 67-page complaint that it stole her likeness for two characters within the game which was a parody of a Hollywood diva. The suit was dismissed.

But for its fans, it was a hell of a lot of fun, and a large part of the appeal was Grand Theft Auto’s irreverence and mockery of conventional behaviour.

The other side of the story, the one that made it so commercially successful is that the games are incredibly immersive when it comes to narrative and world-building. It’s why people have shelled out $100-plus (the new game is selling for $129 as a pre-order) every few years to get in on it.

Celebrities who have lent their voice talents to the games include Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Madsen, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Ray Liotta, Joe Pantoliano, Phil Collins and Burt Reynolds.

Grand Theft Auto largely creates versions of real world places with recognisable landmarks and neighbourhoods – its three primary locations are Liberty City (a stand-in for New York City), Vice City (Miami) and San Andreas (California, but also with Las Vegas added in).

Each game is an open world format with missions, side assignments and mini-stories. The most recent game, Grand Theft Auto V, had three main characters, a retired bank robber, a street gangster and a drug dealer/weapons trafficker, who had to complete heists, play out rivalries with other characters and go up against the state.

Grand Theft Auto VI will return to Vice City, but expanded out into its fictionalised version of Florida, called Leonida. It will centre on the character of Lucia, who along with partner Jason will embark on a Bonnie-and-Clyde-esque quest.