This year is already shaping up to be one of the best years for video games. Clair Obscur Expedition 33, Split Fiction, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II came out in the first half of 2025 and wowed gamers. There's also the upcoming release of the Nintendo Switch 2.
The biggest game of the year, however, will not come out this year.
Grand Theft Auto VI was set to come out this fall. Developer Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two Interactive insisted again and again that it would come out, even though neither gave a specific release date. All that changed on Friday.
Rockstar announced that GTA 6 will not come out this year, and instead, will come out on May 26, 2026.
"We are very sorry that this is later than you expected," Rockstar said in the announcement of the delay. "The interest and excitement surrounding a new Grand Theft Auto has been truly humbling for our entire team. With every game we have released, the goal has always been to try and exceed your expectations, and Grand Theft Auto VI is no exception. We hope you understand that we need this extra time to deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve."
It's been almost 12 years since the release of GTA V, which was the largest game of the franchise. GTA 6 is looking to be one of the biggest games of all time, but there is still a lot about the game we don't know.
The GTA 6 trailer, released back in 2023, gives the only real glimpse of what's coming with the game. Taking place in a parody version of Florida named Leonida, the game would have players step into the role of Lucia and an unnamed male accomplice. The two criminals would do the standard fare for GTA protagonists of stealing cars, taking out targets, and getting the attention of a lot of police.
Leonida would encompass Vice City, the fictional Miami that was the setting for 2002's GTA: Vice City. It would also take place in more modern times featuring modern tech like social media apps similar to TikTok.
While gamers were disappointed with the news, it didn't surprise some industry experts. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier wrote on Blue Sky that the people he spoke with at Rockstar didn't expect the game to come out this year. Schreier suspects that the delay is a way to avoid long work days to try and make the release date deadline, referred to as "crunch."
There is a concern that the delay would provide Rockstar with an opportunity to go with a higher price tag.
GTA 5's budget was $265 million when it came out in 2013, and it's likely that the budget for GTA 6 will be even higher. There was always some speculation that if there was a game that could have a higher price than the standard $70 for new games, it would be GTA 6.
That changed last month with the announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2. Mario Kart World is the only Nintendo-developed launch title made solely for the Switch 2, and it will cost $80. Nintendo didn't provide a reason why the new game in the franchise would be higher, but this opens the door for more companies to release their games at a higher price point. This could mean next year, GTA 6 could launch with an $80 price point, and it wouldn't receive much pushback, which would be a big positive for Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive.
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