It was initially planned to be released in May 2026, a that is a highly anticipated sequel by developer Rockstar Games, originally delayed in autumn 2025.
Thursday saw Rockstar declare that it needed more time to complete the game to the specification expected, and deserved by fans.
The latest addition to the series is GTA 5 which was released in 2013 and is the second all time best selling video game. It has a history of 12 years of operation, but still, it has millions of players who play it online.
Rockstar has attributed the long queue to the fact that it was sorry to have added the extra time and it was grateful to the fans who had to wait. The studio explained that it was very much thrilled to have gamers explore the game environment of Leonidas a fictional US state based on Florida, which is a modernized instance of Miami-based Vice City.
Predictably, the news provoked a rush of reactions in social media, both positive and negative.
Streamer IShowSpeed responded to this with an extreme reaction on his stream stating, I will be 50 when this game is released. I could have children, I could have a wife.
In the meantime, the YouTube channel of animated character Lofi Girl mentioned that she could, in fact, possibly graduate before GTA 6, and Domino Pizza made fun of Rockstar by saying that he should call it in case it needed delivery.
The move was however supported by many fans who argued that they wanted the developers to take their time instead of releasing a half baked product.
This announcement follows the news that in 30 October, Rockstar laid off 31 employees in its studios in the United Kingdom.
The labour union, the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) representing employees in the gaming sector alleged that the company was dismissing employees to avoid the effects of unionisation. Thursday protesting took place as members demonstrated outside the offices of Rockstar in Edinburgh and London. BBC reported that it had asked Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar, to comment.
Rockstar has already released two trailers of GTA 6, the second one of which was released in May this year and has already received more than 100 million views. The three-minute trailer provided a better vision of the main characters Jason and Lucia who are a criminal couple residing in Leonidas, as well as the addition of new characters and settings.
The company has a reputation of holding back its major titles, and Red Dead Redemption 2 was one of the titles that were postponed by close to a year before launching.
Analysts are indicating that increasing demands on big, involved games and the cost of production are encouraging developers to offload early releases.
Once it comes, GTA 6 will be one of the highest priced games ever made - and probably sell itself to high sales. It is also unknown whether it will prove to live up to the huge expectations.
