It seems that GTA V goes into history as the most expensive game ever made with a marketing and development budget of a whopping £170 million (that's $265 million). The game has been developed by Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games over a five-year period and looks set to become one of the best selling games of the current console generation. It has already received 2.5 million pre-orders. Such is the success of the series, industry experts believe its latest incarnation will rewrite the record books, shifting 25 million copies in the first year alone, achieving sales of £1bn. Confidence in the release is such that shares in Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent firm, have nearly doubled in value in the past year.

The new game revolves around a satirical recreation of southern California. With players able to switch between three protagonists, the 49-square-mile world boasts a welter of activities, such as scuba diving with sharks and hijacking trains.

For those who have watched the franchise grow from its humble roots in an office in Dundee’s Perth Road – the first base for Rockstar’s predecessor, DMA Design – to arguably the largest entertainment product in the world, there is little doubt the new release will be a huge hit.

GTA V most expensive game ever