preliminary work on "grand theft auto v" began after "grand theft auto iv"s release in april 2008; full development lasted approximately three years. rockstar north's core 360-person team co-opted studios around the world owned by parent company rockstar games to facilitate development between a full team of over 1,000. these included rockstar's leeds, london, lincoln, new england, san diego and toronto studios. technical director adam fowler said that while development was shared between studios in different countries, the process involved close collaboration between the core team and others. this was necessary to avoid difficulties if studios did not communicate with each other as many game mechanics work in tandem. game development ceased by 25 august 2013, when it was submitted for manufacturing. media analyst arvind bhatia estimated the game's development budget exceeded , and "the scotsman" reporter marty mclaughlin estimated that the combined development and marketing efforts exceeded (), making it the most expensive video game ever made at its time.