Current host of @FenwayPod74388 | Boston sports | 🇺🇸 | x3 Fantasy Football Champion | 2021 American Legion Post 7 District Champion | MLB The Show enthusiast
$2.1 billion in salaries since 2019 is the number getting all the attention. The number that actually explains GTA 6's timeline is $710 million.
That's how much the GTA franchise generated last fiscal year. Thirteen years after launch. GTA 5 is still selling 20 million copies a year at full price. GTA Online still has 22 million monthly active players spending real money on virtual cars and apartments. The franchise has cleared over $10 billion lifetime and the annual revenue curve is barely declining.
This is the part every "most expensive game ever" headline misses. Rockstar isn't slow because $3 billion is hard to spend. Rockstar is slow because GTA 5 is still a $700 million per year business and every prior console generation transition has shown significant revenue disruption during the handoff.
When GTA 4 launched, GTA San Andreas revenue collapsed. When GTA 5 launched, GTA 4 went to zero overnight. The installed base resets. The online economy resets. The microtransaction flywheel that took a decade to build resets. Day one of GTA 6 is also the last day of GTA Online's current economy.
If GTA 6 launches and the online mode takes 18 months to reach GTA Online's current engagement levels, that's over a billion dollars in opportunity cost during the transition window. If it takes longer, the number gets worse.
The $3 billion development cost isn't the risk. The risk is killing a $700 million annual revenue stream before its replacement is ready to print at the same rate. Every delay is Rockstar protecting the most profitable entertainment product ever made while making sure its successor can match that run rate on arrival.
The game will ship when the online infrastructure is bulletproof. The single player campaign has probably been done for a while.
Sonny Gray’s first inning in a Sox uniform
35 pitches - only 19 were strikes
Faced 7 batters
2 H, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 ER
Gray is usually great at pounding the zone with strikes. Rough start to his Sox career, hopefully he can settle in.
The Sox have some fight in em!
RBI hit from Roman, Rafaela scoring on a wild pitch
BS strike out on story, if only we didn’t use up all our challenges within the first 3 innings
Sonny Gray’s final line in his first start of the season:
4.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER - 4 total runs, 1 BB, 5 Ks
80 pitches - 51 Strikes
Somewhat settled in after the 1st inning, if he doesn’t have that error, this start looks a little different. Need him to be better though
What an absolute shit show behind the plate. Bucknor is complete garbage. Story wasn’t even close to swinging on that and he didn’t even check it to the first base umpire. Has been horrible with his strike calls all day. Then has the nerve to eject Cora. What a joke.
The Red Sox lose the CB Bucknor show 6-5 in 11, and drop to 1-1 on the year
Bullpen looked solid, but hard to get wins when you don’t get starting pitching
Great comeback attempt from the fellas, just couldn’t get good swings in extras
Looking to win the series tomorrow
This is the most concise breakdown of how the Red Sox are being run as part of a private equity firm's portfolio and not a baseball team you'll ever see. Just check out Sam Kennedy's Wall Street word salad at the 14:25 mark