Grand Theft Auto 5
has been such a massive success for Rockstar Games that the developer is practically forced to do a sequel, especially considering that both Sony and Microsoft are about to launch new consoles that will be more powerful than anything we’ve ever put underneath our television sets.
We’ve seen plenty of GTA 6 rumors so far, but it’s unlikely the game will be released in time for the PS5 and Xbox Series X launches — both consoles will hit stores this holiday season. However, Rockstar may have confirmed that the new game is already in the works in the strangest way possible.
The studio hasn’t released any teasers, however, it did file a huge increase in claims for Video Games Tax Relief, according to Tax Watch. The report says “the claim was by far the largest for Video Games Tax Relief [VGTR] granted by HMRC in 2018/19, accounting for 37% of all claims made by the UK video games industry in that year.”
In spite of the massive success of GTA 5, a multi-billion dollar business for the studio, the claim reveals that Rockstar has paid no UK Corporation Tax for the fourth year in a row. Moreover, Rockstar claimed £37.6 million last year, for a total of £80 million. That’s about a quarter of all the relief claims filed since the tax relief program was launched, even though Rockstar made just two games.
Here comes the interesting part of the report, the claim is believed to be related to GTA 6:
The claim is believed to relate to the production of the next edition of GTA, rumored to be scheduled for release soon. Rockstar North is the lead developer for the series, although Rockstar has also registered Red Dead Redemption 2 as being ‘Culturally British,’ the pre-requisite required to qualify for the relief. Studios are able to make interim claims for VGTR before a game is completed, and the huge claims being put in by Rockstar are likely related to the production costs of GTA VI. As VGTR is related to production spend, the large claim indicates the scale of Rockstar’s spending on games development.
While this is nothing more than an informed guess, don’t get too excited about GTA 6 just yet. We still need the company to acknowledge the project, so, for now, we’re back to waiting.
