Last December, after literally years of speculation, rumors, and leaks, Rockstar finally dropped the first teaser for Grand Theft Auto VI, with a broad 2025 release date attached. It was appropriate that the GTA VI trailer used a Tom Petty song, because the waiting is indeed the hardest part, but at least fans have a firm 2025 end goal in sight… right? Right?
Well, about that… according to a new report from Kotaku, Rockstar’s current goal is to finally get Grand Theft Auto VI in our hands by early 2025, but production is falling behind where it needs to be, and the release date may well slip to either late 2025 or possibly early 2026. Apparently, pushing to 2026 is just the “emergency” plan right now, but, well, sometimes emergencies happen. As of now, there aren’t any changes to the plans for GTA VI’s PR rollout, but according to those within the company, decisions about release dates and the like are usually made last second.
As part of the push to get Grand Theft Auto VI delivered in a somewhat timely manner, Rockstar is mandating a full-time return to office for all employees. The stated reason for this is security and quality-assurance, but there are some employees that fear that it would also allow Rockstar to fall back into its old crunch-heavy days which saw employees putting in 80-hour-plus weeks to wrap up games like GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2.
Haven’t been keeping up with GTA VI? Rockstar hasn’t revealed a lot of info about it yet, beyond that kickass first trailer, but here’s a quick official description…
“Grand Theft Auto VI continues our efforts to push the limits of what’s possible in highly immersive, story-driven open-world experiences. We’re thrilled to be able to share this new vision with players everywhere. Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.”
As of now, Grand Theft Auto VI is slated to launch on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 sometime in 2025. What do you think? Will that release date stick?
