GTA 6 May Be First 'AAAAA' Game, Says Industry Veteran: What It Means

The upcoming launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6) appears to be defying conventional gaming categorisations. In the past, the label ‘AAA’ has been usually applied to games with the biggest budgets, the latest technology and wide-ranging promotional campaigns.

Now, Devolver Digital co-founder Nigel Lowrie suggests that Rockstar Games’ GTA 6 could go beyond that description and qualify for what he has termed the first ‘AAAAA’ label, according to IGN.

"There are AAA games and then there's AAAA games and I'd argue that Grand Theft Auto is potentially 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," Lowrie told IGN.

His has based his argument on the unprecedented hype, massive production values and expectations from the game ahead of its expected release in May 2026.

For years, ‘AAA’ has been known as an abbreviation for big-budget and high-profile gaming titles released by large companies such as Sony, Microsoft, Ubisoft, EA and Take-Two Interactive among others. Such games usually consist of hundreds of devs, years-long production cycles and huge marketing budgets.

Lowrie’s statements highlight the expectation that GTA 6 will be the most dominant title among upcoming releases. As per IGN, several developers steered clear of releasing games this fall in 2025, in anticipation of GTA 6 coming out. Now slated to release on May 26, 2026, the game's size and cultural reach could reset industry standards. The suggested ‘AAAAA’ label is meant to reflect this unusual mix of impact and hype, indicating that GTA 6 might create a new standard for gaming.

GTA 6 has made waves in the past, being labelled as one of the largest video game releases ever. In July, Josh Chapman, managing partner at venture capital company Konvoy, laid out his estimates for GTA 6, including possible pricing and profits for Rockstar.

He said the game could rake in a whopping $7.6 billion (around Rs 65,247 crore) in total revenue just within 60 days of its launch. Chapman added that the cost of the game would be in the range of $80 (around Rs 6,900). He also said that GTA 6 might bring about a new era of user-generated content (UGC), essentially making the title “the next UGC platform.”