After over a decade in development,Grand Theft Auto 6is finally within reaching distance, with Rockstar finally entering the final stages of the project’s completion. With an estimated budget of up to $2 billion, it is clear to see why the expectations around the upcoming game are so high, with discussions already being had around how the title might impact AAA pricing throughout the gaming industry going forward.
With so much pressure and attention being placed onGrand Theft Auto 6, it is no wonder that the project has already found itself associated with a range of high-profile controversies. While many of these have been through no fault of Rockstar, such as the extensiveGTA 6leaks that surfaced in 2022, the studio has now found itself as the aggressor in another pre-release controversy. Reportedly, Rockstar recently reached out to English pop band Heaven 17 with an offer to license some of their music forGTA 6, and the deal fell well short of being proportionate to the amount of money Rockstar stands to make throughout the game’s life cycle.
Rockstar’s Heaven 17 Controversy Has Sparked a Wider Debate Around Music Licensing in Gaming
Music has grown to become an extremely important element ofGrand Theft Autoover the years, with the long amounts of time players spend driving through the franchise’s iconic locations only being aided by a wide variety of licensed real-world tracks.The neon 80s aesthetic of 2002’sVice Citywas massively informed by its range of music, for example, with players looking forward to a fresh catalog of music with everyGTArelease.
Alongside curated radio hosts for different stations,any song in a modernGTAtitle is liable to be played thousands of times, especially with the now decade-long waits in between releases, and it only seems fair that the artists behind these songs are compensated fairly for the licensing of their music. This thinking led to understandable controversy when Heaven 17 member Martyn Ware took to social media, detailing how much Rockstar offered the band to license their popular 1983 track, Temptation.
To license the track and forego any future royalties relating to its use inGrand Theft Auto 6, Rockstar offered to pay the band $7500. It is important to note just how profitable theGTAfranchise is to fully appreciate where this controversy has come from, withGrand Theft Auto 5being crowned as the most profitable piece of media in human history. Some analysts estimate thatGTA 6could generate close to $3 billion in sales in its first year, making the $7500 figure for song licensing seem well below what Rockstar should realistically be offering for such a profitable project.
Song Exposure is Not Enough to Overlook Rockstar’s Profits
Of course, there is an argument that a song’s inclusion in such a dominant pop-culture franchise likeGrand Theft Autocould do wonders for an artist through exposure, but this is never guaranteed. Regardless of any exposure, the immense profits that Rockstar enjoys from theGTAfranchise are impossible to ignore, and it seems more than feasible for artists to be paid substantially higher fees for full song licensing.
This controversy has placed more ofa spotlight on Rockstar’s profits fromGTA, especially within the backdrop of speculation that the game could be priced at $100+, perhaps heralding in a new era of how AAA games are distributed. It is clear to see where the criticism of Rockstar’s reported licensing offers have come from, and it will be interesting to see how this controversy might impact any future approaches to artists asGTA 6enters the final stretch of its long development.
