Australia’s video game industry is looking forward to the upcoming release of one of the most highly anticipated games of all time.
Grand Theft Auto 6 will be released on Thursday, 13 years after the last instalment of the franchise was published by Rockstar Games.
The open-world action-adventure game draws inspiration from the US 1930s bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde, and centres on a romantic and criminal partnership between Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval as they navigate the criminal underworld of a fictionalised Miami.
“I’ve already downloaded it, and I won’t be the only one in Australia counting down to next Thursday,” said Benn Skender, chief executive of Melbourne-based, ASX-listed independent game developer PlaySide Studios.
For many, GTA 6 will be the first game they’ve bought in years, or the first time they’ve switched on their console all year, Mr Skender said.
“That’s good news for the entire industry. Once those players are back on the couch, they’ll be looking for what to play next, and there’s been no shortage of great games this year.”
Alice Shen, a Sydney-based VanEck portfolio manager whose focus areas include video games, agrees that Thursday’s launch could be a short-term catalyst for the industry.
GTA 6’s three-week-old trailer has already been viewed 77 million times on YouTube, and 7 million copies of the game have already been pre-sold, Ms Shen said.
“That’s really remarkable, and I think if history is any guide, its predecessor has sold around 235 million copies since launching in 2013,” she told AAP.
“Potentially, GTA 6 is going to be even bigger than that.”
A lot of investors might see video games as niche, but since 2019 they have surpassed the market cap of the movie and music industry combined and should be seen as a stable and mature industry.
“But I think GTA 6 is going to be another short-term catalyst for investors or even gamers to rethink this industry, and there are a lot of opportunities out there to explore.”
GTA publisher Rockstar Games is a division of Nasdaq-listed Take-Two Interactive, whose stock has jumped by nearly 20 per cent in the past month in anticipation of the launch date.
Investors interested in adding exposure to the industry could consider investing in an exchange-traded fund, Ms Shen said.
Her employer, VanEck, has offered the ASX-listed video gaming and esports ETF (ESPO) since 2020, while rival ETF issuer Betashares’ video games and esports fund launched on the ASX in 2022 under the ticker code GAME.
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