God help us all: GTA 6 might actually be an “AAAAA” game – at least according to Devolver’s co-founder – and that’s why the industry is acting like it’s bracing for a nuclear detonation. Things are getting downright absurd.

Here we go again: a new A has been born. Actually, make that two new As. And it’s all because of Grand Theft Auto 6, a title so grotesquely massive and high-budget that “AAA” and even “AAAA” can no longer contain it. We’ve entered AAAAA territory – the peak of absurdity has arrived.

The claim comes from Nigel Lowrie, co-founder of Devolver Digital, in a chat with IGN. During a discussion about Silksong and how developers are scrambling to avoid colliding with its release date, Lowrie noted that there’s an even larger, more colossal, more Brobdingnagian monster looming on the horizon: GTA 6.

“There are AAA games and then there’s AAAA games,” Lowrie said. “But I’d argue that Grand Theft Auto is potentially the AAAAA game. It’s bigger than anything else – in scope, in scale, in cultural impact, and in the attention it demands.”

Meanwhile, Take-Two’s CEO admitted he’s “running scared”, despite billions in the bank, describing GTA 6 as a financial nuke on the horizon. Yet, he remains adamant: “My level of conviction is very, very high” that there will be no further delays.

GTA 6 Casts a Shadow Over Everything

Silksong may have loomed large over indies, but GTA 6 hangs over the entire medium. Adam Lieb, CEO of Gamesight, noted: “For the last year and a half, GTA has come up in almost every conversation I’ve heard about launch dates… the scope is so large it ends up competing with things it normally wouldn’t.”

“If you’re a shooter, you only worry about shooters. That’s how it usually goes. But GTA has been this black cloud hovering over everything.”

Frankly, it’s insane. With its astronomical – and closely guarded – budget and the sheer number of years since the last entry, GTA 6 has built up a gravitational pull unlike anything else. Anticipation is at nuclear levels, and in decades of watching this industry, I can’t recall hype quite like it.

But is this sustainable? Even if Take-Two slaps on an $80–$90 price tag, there’s something of a Roman-collapse vibe to it all. Like one final, cataclysmic detonation before the reset. Or maybe that’s naïve. Maybe the future really is AAAAA.