GTA 6 Release: Why Rockstar Is Taking So Long

You've probably seen memes by now about how we've gotten some random thing we didn't expect before we got "Grand Theft Auto 6." It stems from the fact that "GTA 6" has taken a long, long time to be released, and gamers have been growing impatient over the last few years. 

"Grand Theft Auto 5" was released in 2013 and has sold more than 205 million units in the past 10-plus years, making it one of the most popular games of all time. While "GTA Online" still has hundreds of thousands of players in 2024, the constant updates haven't been enough to placate the gaming community. They all continue to ask on social media and forums day after day: Why is "GTA 6" taking so long? 

For a while, it became a running joke that "GTA 6" was nowhere to be found. Rockstar was rather tight-lipped about its existence, and fans started to wonder if it was ever coming out. After years of rumors, leaks, and speculation, Rockstar finally tweeted about the sequel in 2022, formally announcing "Grand Theft Auto 6" in December of 2023. But even then, Rockstar was quiet about the details, including the release date. With "Grand Theft Auto 6" finally slated to release in the fall of 2025, here's a look back at why it took over 13 years for the game to be released.

Before "Grand Theft Auto 5," a new title came out every couple of years. "GTA 3" came out in 2001, followed by "Vice City" in 2002, and then "San Andreas" in 2004. There was then a longer gap, with "GTA 4" coming out in 2008, but smaller titles came out in between, such as "Vice City Stories." 

This then brought us up to "GTA 5" in 2013. You can see that as the years went on, it started to take a bit more time between each title's release due to games getting larger and more complex, as well as Rockstar growing and taking on more big titles that take up resources and focus, like the "Red Dead Redemption" series. Still, going from five years to over 10 years to release a "GTA" game is a huge jump — and it's one that gamers are conflicted about. 

Rockstar has already announced that the PC port of the game may take years to come out after it's launched on consoles in 2025. As a former Rockstar employee explained, even with a PC port, devs "want to make it the best it can be." If a PC port takes that much time to smooth out before Rockstar believes it's worthy of being released, it's no surprise that the team isn't willing to launch a game until it reaches its expectations, and a game as massive as "GTA 6" could take a while to get right. For example, "Red Dead Redemption 2" took Rockstar eight years, starting development just a few months after the first "Red Dead Redemption" was launched in 2010. 

"Red Dead Redemption 2" also took up a ton of Rockstar's resources during development. Rockstar reportedly realized that it was too difficult to have various studios working on different projects, so it had all of its teams merge into one large unit of around 2,000 employees focused on "Red Dead Redemption 2." With "Red Dead 2" as the focus of almost the entire development team, it's clear why "Grand Theft Auto 6" may have taken the backseat. 

Another setback was likely the pandemic. During that time period of about two to three years, many game studios and publishers saw game development getting delayed quite significantly. Teams had to learn how to work remotely, which took a lot of training and setup. There was also the pivot to next-gen consoles, with developers needing to take time to learn about new capabilities and specs.

Rockstar has remained quite secretive about "Grand Theft Auto 6," even with multiple massive content leaks over the past few years. The first official trailer came out at the end of 2023, confirming we're heading back to Vice City, the Miami-inspired location from the 2002 title. As always, there will be plenty of wild locations, supercars, and interesting NPCs. 

This time, however, fans saw the first-ever female protagonist in "GTA" history. It seemed like the story follows a Bonnie and Clyde-inspired relationship that allows players to take control of Lucia and Jason throughout the story. While Bloomberg reported that the map was originally supposed to also include parts of South America, the official map will just be a larger and more detailed version of Vice City, including its beaches and buildings, though DLC may continue to update the map with more locations. 

Since the official announcement, various gameplay components have been leaked in what may be the largest video game leak in history. Rockstar managed to take down all of the leaked footage, which included shots of cars driving around the city and more. The leaker ended up staying in a secure hospital indefinitely after illegally posting 90 gameplay clips. Aside from these now-wiped clips, however, not much else is known about "Grand Theft Auto 6"'s storyline, gameplay, or features.