So Long, Social Life: Grand Theft Auto V Features 100 Hours Of Gameplay Content

From campaign missions to side-quests, cinematic heists to…yoga, the fifth numerical entry in the seminal franchise is reported to offer around one hundred hours of gameplay content. Speaking all things Grand Theft Auto V with The Guardian, co-founder of Rockstar Games’ Dan Houston offered an insight into the development process behind the blockbuster crime title; even stating that the game’s budget – encompassing production and marketing – reached £170 million ($265 million). As a means for comparison, Star Wars: The Old Republic scaled to $200 million in 2011.

Although, Houston appears confident with the world that his studio has rendered, which undoubtedly promises an almost overwhelming amount of content.

“We’ve got this big open-world experience that’s 100 hours long, and that gives players control over what they do, what they see, and how they see it.”

That purported budget for Grand Theft Auto V was used to finance a development team of over 300 designers, concept artists and programmers; with the studio sending out teams on research trips in Los Angeles to capture the essence of the American metropolis.

“LA is this embodiment of 20th century American desires: the houses, the gardens, the tans, all slightly fake. It’s the end of the western world – the suns sets and then it’s tomorrow. But the industry is movies or, equally phoney, real estate. It’s people trying to escape their pasts and reinvent themselves. If GTA 4 was a classic New York story, this is the endpoint of the American dream.”

With only seven days until its eventual release, the hype surrounding Grand Theft Auto V is palpable. We understand that the orchestral score is brimming with twenty movies worth of soundtrack, while the world map is larger than that of Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas combined. The fifth iteration in the monumental series represents a Herculean undertaking; with the narrative covering Michael, Franklin, Trevor and their respective cultural and social contexts.

Of course, with Grand Theft Auto Online – itself a colossal multiplayer experience – slated to release two weeks after the game’s retail debut on October 1st, fans of the series won’t exactly be short of content this fall season.

Tell us, have you pre-ordered Grand Theft Auto V yet? Or are you still trying to plan a sick day that just so happens to fall on September 17th? Hey, 14% of British men have admitted that they’re likely to take the day off. Either way, give us your thoughts on Rockstar’s upcoming behemoth in the comments below.