In the first trailer, developers revealed the most crucial information about GTA 6 — the game’s expected release date is around 2025.
The financial report for the last quarter of the rights holder mentions the same calendar year. Take-Two has been expecting significant revenue, amounting to 8 billion dollars, for the fiscal year of 2025. This fiscal year starts on April 1, 2024, and ends on March 31, 2025. So, are they planning to release the “sixth” installment in the first quarter of the following year? Logically, yes, but it might not be wise to count on this. Here’s why.
Rockstar Games is taking as much time as they need to work on the sixth installment. It’s been over 10 years since the predecessor was released. Only impatient fans are pushing the creators, while the “rock stars” and their parent company understand that they are creating an absolute magnum opus within the series, the life cycle of which may outlast that of GTA 5 and GTA Online. Therefore, the readiness of the product is extremely important, and T2 understands this:
We’re in pursuit of perfection. Once we believe we’ve optimized the game, we’ll start planning the release.
The increase in the advertising budget could indicate the approach of this event. Marketing campaigns took the hardest hit in case of any game delays, and R* has experienced this almost with every major title. “The fifth” was intended to be released in spring 2013, posters were printed, but it was postponed to the autumn. Max Payne 3 was delayed for a couple of months, GTA 4 — for half a year, RDR 2 — for about a year, and L.A. Noire — even longer. As we see, avoiding delays is practically impossible. However, it is believed that Rockstar understands this, hence they did not specify the period. It is quite possible that GTA 6 will be pushed back to the second half of 2025, without announcing an earlier date. The question is, will we have to wait even longer, until 2026? The majority of our readers are confident (or hopeful) that it won’t be the case.
So far, the fall of next year seems to be the most likely option. This season is particularly fruitful for the gaming industry, and October is Rockstar’s favorite month, during which almost half of the studio’s portfolio has been released. However, there has been a shift towards November lately: GTA Online in 2014 was delayed to PS4 and Xbox One, Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2019 — to PC, and GTA: Trilogy — Definitive Edition a little over two years ago was announced from scratch. The reasoning makes sense: we spend a couple of weeks to a month on the “sixth” installment’s storyline, and in December we dive into the new “Online”. During holidays, people are more willing to spend money.
Most likely, GTA 6’s release on PC will happen in 2026 or even later. Of course, everything directly depends on the console versions’ release (they are a priority due to time exclusivity). So, we’ll have to wait. Porting the “fourth” took six months (we remember the result well), RDR 2 — a year, and “the fifth” — one and a half years. We’re bracing ourselves.
Source: gta.com.ua
