Online rumors recently pushed the narrative that GTA 6 had already been internally delayed to 2026, but one former Rockstar Games lead has explained that the studio won't know whether the game needs more time in the oven until next summer.
Former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij has chimed in on the discourse to remind folks that "the decision to delay GTA 4 was made four months or so before the original release date. Any further and it's hard to make the call." GTA 6 still has another year in production, so Vermeij says that Rockstar "is probably not in a position to determine whether they will hit 2025 until May-ish."
He continues to explain that a delay is certainly on the table, however. Hype for GTA 6 has been building for over a decade at this point - and everyone from industry analysts, Xbox executives, and Take-Two's CEO reckon the game could be a hit unlike any other - so the studio will likely choose to delay it until it's ready, rather than rush toward an underbaked and doomed-to-be-controversial launch.
"GTA 6 will sell for 10+ years and there is no competition to worry about," Vermeij continues. "They are not going to release the game until they're 100% happy with it. No matter what it said in the trailer. I have no inside info. Didn't talk to anyone."
Vermeij also thinks that parent company Take-Two probably wouldn't force Rockstar's hand to make the studio release the game before it's fully ready. "Take-Two let Rockstar make their own decisions and I don't think there is any reason to change that now."
Publishers are reportedly waiting to see if GTA 6 is actually launching in 2025 before they set their own release dates so they can stay far away from Rockstar
Analyst says 2025's GTA 6 and Nintendo Switch 2 combo is almost unprecedented: "I don't remember a year like this where so much of what's going to happen is focused on just two products"
