GTA 6 is costing more than the Burj Khalifa - and it's taking longer to create

The Burj Khalifa is a feat of human imagination, innovation and engineering. It stands as a testament to the power of the human will. It is a modern wonder of the world. Oh, and it cost less to create than a computer game.

I'm sure Dubai's Downtown tower was built very efficiently at $1.5bn. Craning your neck to see the top, it looks like something that should have cost that much - if not more - to pull together. It's made of tangible, solid substances; iron, glass, erm... other shiny things that look expensive.

Grand Theft Auto VI, aka GTA 6, is a computer game based on the excesses of life in the USA. The sixth instalment of a very successful franchise. It is said to have development costs of $2bn ahead of its release next year (delayed from this year, as these things often are), although this hasn't been confirmed by the makers. In many cases, it will arrive in homes as a download, passing through the air without notice and appearing on TV sets for old and young (18+ please) to enjoy.

It isn't just the money that makes the mind boggle. The builders of Burj Khalifa's 163 floors took just six years, the developers of GTA 6 are taking seven. It is probably unfair to compare a superstructure's build to a computer game's, but here we are and I will continue, unlike the developers who seem to have taken far too many breaks.

Is the eye-watering money involved in GTA 6 a sign of how the internet is finally surpassing the physical world? Is this how much it takes to keep improving on open platforms as they become new worlds for us to exist in? Is it Friday and is this writer overthinking everything?

I would say yes to all of the above (definitely the third).

Now you may think that the $2bn number is humongous and I am sneering at the price, but it does seem to be a great business decision.

According to experts in this field (of which I am not one) GTA 6 is expected to generate more than $7bn in revenue within 60 days of its release, which is now expected to be at around May time. That is a return on investment (ROI, in accountant speak) in under a month. I believe you would call that a 'no-brainer' if you were sat in the boardroom of Rockstar, who make the game, as they voted on that investment decision.

The game is expected to retail at around $80, although this is also not confirmed, but there are plenty of similar-style games in the market to get a benchmark. Multiply that by the millions of households across the globe who will rush to the shops/digital shelf to pick it up and there's a return that will turn producers in Hollywood and Bollywood green with envy.

Where it gets even better for game producers of this kind, is that there will be many additional add-ons, from new packs to skins, as the makers look at the likes of Fortnite for inspiration. You get a good whack of dollar to start and then a forever income stream to follow. That seven years of work now looks rather efficient.

I'm looking forward to seeing this piece of modern art when it finally comes out. There's another column in here somewhere about the rights and wrongs of basing games on vices and vicarious living online but, as I said earlier (do pay attention), it's Friday.

The Burj Khalifa will stand tall for hundreds of years to come as an example of creating a new world with the materials below our feet. GTA 6 may well become an example of human brilliance in creating a new world with code, AI and bandwidth. One of the lines in the previous games is 'you can either play by the rules or make your own' - now there's something the publishers, builders, producers and architects definitely have in common.

Mark Thompson is a UK-based journalist and digital transformation expert. He is currently a consultant digital editor for Gulf News.