When a hardware company (like Sony) is preparing for the launch of a new console, video game developers for that new console usually receive
Dev Kits at least 2 or 3 years in advance, before the real consoles hit store shelves. These early versions of the console serve no other purpose than to test a game so that a video game studio can actually develop games for the upcoming new system.
Here is a photo of a
Playstation 5 Dev Kit from around 2018 or 2019, when somebody tried to sell it on Ebay, a few years ago.
Rockstar is the MOST lucrative game developer for the Sony Playstation.
They damn sure received PS5 Dev Kits several YEARS AGO.
So finishing GTA6 has nothing to do with the amount of PS5 consoles available.
Let's take a look back...
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GTA5 SALES
GTA5 was released on
September 17, 2013.
Rockstar sold 32.5 million copies during 2013 alone.
And that number dropped to 12.5 million during 2014.
Roughly ~100 million total copies of GTA5 had been sold by 2018... and 33% of that total were sold for the PlayStation 3 console.
This chart below shows the total sales of GTA5 from 2013 to 2020 (includes both PS3 and PS4 consoles)
Now compare the number of copies of GTA5 sold to the number of PS4 consoles sold, back then.
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SONY PS4 SALES
Exactly 2 months after GTA5 hit store shelves, Sony released the PS4 on
November 15, 2013.
- In 2013, Sony sold 4.2 million PS4 consoles during the holiday season of 2013.
- In 2014, Sony sold 14.41 million PS4 consoles in 2014.
In the first year and 2 months of the PS4 being out.... Rockstar sold over 40 million copies of GTA5.
How was that possible if there were only 18 million PS4 consoles out?
The PS3. That's how.
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SONY PS5 SALES
Last year, during the holiday season, Sony claimed they sold 4.5 million PS4 consoles in the last 2 months of 2020.
And in July 2021, Sony bragged they had already sold more than 10+ million PS5 consoles.
Its been almost a whole year since the PS5 came out, so that means they have sold the same number of PS5s as they had sold PS4s a whole Decade earlier. But now there are over 114 million PS4 owners.
So 5 years after Launch Day of the PS4.... approx. 1/3 of all the roughly ~100 million copies sold of GTA5 by 2018.... were sold for the PS3 console.
Let that sink in for a second....
The PS3 accounted for about 1/3 of all the copies of GTA5 that were sold in the first 3-5 years of release.
So if Rockstar dropped GTA 6 THIS YEAR.... the number of copies sold to PS4 owners would be ALOT more than 1/3 of all sales.
Mainly because there's more than 114+ million folks who have a PS4.
Which means that TODAY Rockstar wants us to believe that they would jeopardize LOSING at least 1/3 of all their TOTAL GTA 6 SALES (which would be sold to PS4 owners) in order to wait a few years... just to make it an exclusive for the PS5 when there is a SHORTAGE of PS5s available, due to the global pandemic.
Wait what?? Really??
We are supposed to believe that Take-Two SHAREHOLDERS are willing to sacrifice 1/3 of the money they could have in their bank accounts right now.... because they want to "wait out" the pandemic for a few years, so they can make GTA6 exclusively for the PS5 only...
and sell ZERO copies of GTA 6 to the 114+ MILLION PS4 owners walking the planet right now, huh?
Nah man, they think we are dumb.
I highly doubt the delay of GTA 6 has anything to do with the amount of PS5s that are available.
In reality, I believe the delay is because of all the KEY personnel who had been making GTA games for the last 20 years have quit Rockstar in the last 3-5 years.
- Dan Houser left in Mar 2020 (Dan was the Co-Founder of Rockstar Games and the guy who INVENTED GTA... was also the guy who WROTE all the missions. He has since started his own gaming company)
- Lazlow Jones left in Aug 2020 (Director, Producer and Writer for GTA for 20 years, responsible for creating missions with Dan Houser.)
- Jeronimo Barrera left in Dec 2019 (VP of Product Development, responsible for managing all the Coders/Developer & figuring out how to turn Dan's stories into gameplay mechanics)
- Leslie Benzies left in 2016 (He was the Lead Producer for GTA, responsible for creating missions with Dan Houser. He has since started his own gaming company)
- Veteran Game Coders who were probably poached when those folks left to start new gaming companies.
These folks were the main "driving forces" behind the ENTIRE GTA Franchise.
They all had been working on GTA for the last 20 years.
Ever since GTA 1...
- They created all the stories, concepts & characters.
- They managed all the 3D Designers & Coders/Devs.
- They figured out all the gameplay mechanics.
- They hired & recorded all the voice actors.
- They created all the missions.
- They wrote all the dialogue.
- They wrote every story.
When they left... it put a huge drain on 'the creative aspects' of the game.
It's hard to replace THAT many
'key people' who did THAT MUCH to make those GTA games a reality.
That's probably why GTA 6 is not out yet.
Personally, I think Rockstar is struggling to replace the folks they lost with the right people to finish the game.
I bet losing Dan Houser took the BIGGEST TOLL on the studio.... because he wrote EVERYTHING!!
All the scripts. All the dialogue. All the concepts. All the gameplay mechanics.
I think Rockstar fell waaaaayyyyy behind on all their GTA 6 development schedules when he left.
Just my opinion.