GTA V may have cost as much as $266 million to create and market, according to Scottish newspaper.

Rockstar Games’ open-world action playground Grand Theft Auto V may have cost up to £170 million (approximately $266 million) to develop and market, according to a report by Scottish newspaper The Scotsman (via Kotaku).

The piece claims that industry analysts are predicting that up to 25 million copies of the game could be sold in its first year on the market, representing more than £1 billion ($1.56 billion) in sales, an identical figure to the one given by EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich in November last year.

Earlier this year, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia used a “hypothetical probability model” to estimate development costs of $137.5 million. Contacted by GameSpot, a Rockstar Games representative declined to confirm or deny the figure, saying that the company does not comment on rumour or speculation.

In January last year, a Los Angeles Times report revealed that BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic had cost $200 million to develop. By comparison, Sony’s PlayStation-exclusive racer, Gran Turismo 5, cost around $60 million to produce.

Grand Theft Auto V launches globally next week on September 17 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

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