GTA 6 gets labeled as a “AAAAA” game? Here’s what it means

Forget AAA! GTA 6 could be AAAAA, a developer has cheekily claimed. Here is what all of these A's mean.

When it comes to video games, AAA games are considered to be the top end of the spectrum. Video games that have a super high-end budget, massive scale, and take a big commitment to develop and market. The likes of GTA V, Red Dead Redemption 2, former GTA games, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part II and Part I, God of War Ragnarok, all of these are AAA games.

GTA launches on May 26, 2026. (Rockstar Games)

By Shaurya Sharma

Shaurya Sharma is the Technology Editor at Hindustan Times Digital Streams, where he oversees technology coverage across digital and social platforms. With over eight years of experience across editorial, video production, and digital media, his work focuses on smartphones, AI, consumer gadgets, and shaping audience-first content strategies for modern tech consumers.

He began his career in 2018 as a fashion cinematographer before turning his lifelong passion for technology into a profession. From spending his childhood immersed in tech magazines, video games, and the latest gadgets to covering the global consumer tech industry today, technology has remained a constant throughout his journey.

Over the years, Shaurya has worked with some of India’s leading media organisations, including CNN-News18, Sportskeeda, and Guiding Tech, where he led video initiatives that combined strong editorial storytelling with engaging visual and social-first execution.

A graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication from Manipal University, Shaurya has reviewed hundreds of products across categories including smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, cameras, and wearables. Beyond work, he is passionate about animal welfare, environmental causes, and automobiles, particularly turbo-petrol cars

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Big-budget games meant for mass audiences. But GTA 6 has recently been touted as the first “AAAAA game.” What does this mean? This is just a cheeky way of saying that GTA 6 is going to redefine what scope and scale mean. This comes from a games developer, Devolver Digital’s co-founder Nigel Lowrie.

Nigel, in a recent interview, said that when it comes to the GTA series, nothing comes close to its “scope and scale.” In an interview with IGN, he said that there are AAA games and then there are AAAA games, but GTA is 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," he told IGN.

Why so much hype?

Well, time and again, GTA 6 has been touted as the biggest video game launch of all time, and analytics firms have predicted that it is going to generate big revenue. Recently, in July, Josh Chapman, who is a managing partner at Konvoy, shared details about his predictions for GTA 6, including the price it could come at and how much revenue it could generate for Rockstar. Convoy said that GTA 6 could generate a big figure of $7.6 billion in total revenue within just 60 days of launch.

He also said that the pricing of the game could be around $80, which is certainly more than what you typically pay for a normal AAA game on the PS5 or Xbox Series X or S, which happens to be $69.99. He also said that GTA 6 is going to be the next UGC platform, which is short for User Generated Content. He said that this could allow for big creative payouts for mod creators and more. He added that GTA 6 could sell around 85 million copies within just the first 60 days of launch.

GTA 6 launch date

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