As Grand Theft Auto VI approaches its release, the development costs and early sales figures for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas have once again come under scrutiny. Previous reports estimated the development budget at around $10 million; within approximately 16 months of its October 2004 launch, the game had sold over 12 million copies.
The sales figures come from a 2006 USA Today article. If we broadly assume that all 12 million-plus copies were sold at the original price of $50 each, the gross revenue would be approximately $600 million. This is a figure based solely on list price, excluding discounts, and does not directly represent the actual revenue earned by Rockstar Games or its publisher Take-Two Interactive, let alone their profit.
Regarding development costs, a 2004 Wall Street Journal report cited a budget of approximately $10 million; another newspaper quoted the then-president of Take-Two stating that the budget was under $10 million. These were the budget figures reported at the time. Retrospectives also mention that the game was developed over several years by a team of fewer than 100 people.
This retrospective also compares these costs with the reportedly sub-$10 million budget for Light & Shadow: Expedition 33, using the two games—separated by roughly 20 years—to discuss changes in the scale and investment of major game productions.