"Has anyone heard the budget for Grand Theft Auto 6? It's like three Trey Parker and Matt Stone deals": Invincible creator says the series is getting a fighting game because "open-world games are expensive"

Invincible VS isn't the first video game based on Robert Kirkman's beloved series, but it's arguably the biggest yet, pitting teams of familiar characters against each other in big 3v3 battles. But why a fighting game? Part of the reason is that it's just too darn expensive to make an open-world game in the vein of GTA 6.

"Open-world games are expensive, I will say," Kirkman tells GamesRadar+ in a roundtable interview at San Diego Comic-Con. "Has anyone heard the budget for Grand Theft Auto 6? It's like three Trey Parker and Matt Stone deals."

Speculation has put the GTA 6 budget in the range of somewhere between $1 billion and $2 billion, though those rumors have no apparent source. But with how long the game's been in development and the expectations for its success, Take-Two would certainly be justified in making an unprecedented investment. Whether it would truly rival or beat the $1.5 billion deal Trey Parker and Matt Stone got for the latest run of South Park, however, we may never know.

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But even once you eliminate the possibility of an open-world game, there are a whole lot of other genres to pursue for an Invincible title. "I love fighting games," Kirkman says, citing his time playing Street Fighter 2 in arcades and playing Mortal Kombat on the Genesis to see the blood. He even takes a moment to shout out more infamous titles like Primal Rage and Time Killers. "I was there at the birth of fighting games," he says.

"I just think they're great," he continues, "and I think that they're a really great showcase for a large number of characters. You know, when you have an open-world game, you're kind of playing as that one character. You may encounter the other characters, but you don't get to play as them. So I think as far as showcasing the Invincible universe and showcasing all of the different characters that encompass it, fighting games are ideal for that.

"But aside from that, it's just a genre of game that I absolutely love. You know, would I have preferred to do a Mario game with Invincible characters? Maybe. I love platformers too, but I think that this is, by far – as our first marquee big-in-scale game, I think that the fighting game made the most sense, and I think is going to be the most satisfying for fans."

GTA 6 will "remain" the most expensive game ever, former Rockstar dev predicts, because GTA 7 will see the "bulk of the work" replaced by AI.