A few days ago, Kotaku published a report suggesting Grand Theft Auto 6 may be delayed to late 2025 or even 2026. We didn't report on it because it seemed ephemeral rather than substantial, which Bloomberg's Jason Schreier (formerly of Kotaku himself) has now confirmed.
Schreier reached out to sources inside Rockstar Games, who reacted to the rumor by essentially shrugging. There's no specific reason to believe in any delay, but of course, it can always happen. It's just too early to know for sure.
Grand Theft Auto V, the second best-selling premium game of all time after Minecraft with over $195 million copies sold, was originally scheduled to launch in Spring 2013 before being moved to September 17, 2013 to polish it. Red Dead Redemption 2 was delayed twice, first from late 2017 to Spring 2018 and then to October 26, 2018. The incredible open world action/adventure game also enjoyed unanimous acclaim and outstanding sales that have now surpassed 60 million units.
Between the track record and the massive amount of hype surrounding Grand Theft Auto 6, it would come as no big surprise if Rockstar delayed this new installment in the franchise, too. However, for the time being, there are simply no concrete elements pointing that way. This didn't stop the market from getting antsy after that report, with Take-Two stock taking a little dip.
We do, however, know that Rockstar has requested all of its over two thousand employees to return to work five days a week in the office in an effort to boost productivity and enhance security in this final stage of GTA VI's development. The developer obviously wants to avoid another leak after the one that hit the Web in September 2022, revealing the game's protagonists among other things.
Grand Theft Auto 6 received its first trailer in December, and even that was leaked a little ahead of the announcement. For now, the game remains scheduled to launch in 2025 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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