Why GTA 6 Not Launching Until 2025 Totally Makes Sense

But this doesn’t necessarily mean that gamers out there aren’t excited about the next iteration of the game, and the more rumors make the headline, the higher the enthusiasm around this highly anticipated release.

Oddly enough, despite zero confirmed information, Grand Theft Auto 6 keeps making the headlines occasionally, mostly thanks to alleged leaks and information provided by more or less reliable leaksters who claim they’re familiar with Rockstar’s current plans.

In theory, many gamers originally expected Grand Theft Auto 6 to see the daylight as soon as this year, and at some level, this made perfect sense. GTA V is already eight years old, so 2021 sounded like the right moment to launch a new version of the game.

But on the other hand, it’s pretty clear this wouldn’t happen, as Rockstar obviously has different plans that mostly come down to making as much as possible out of this unexpected GTA V popularity. So later this year, Rockstar will launch an enhanced version of GTA V that would be specifically aimed at new-gen consoles, so if it wasn’t already obvious enough, GTA 6 just needs to wait a little bit longer until it gets the go-ahead.

Speculation that made the headlines earlier this year indicated the game could see daylight in late 2023, and once again, this was a tidbit that aligned with the typical gaming refresh cycles. GTA 6 would have landed some ten years after GTA V, as Rockstar didn’t see any reason to be in a hurry given the sales of the current title are continuously on the rise and have recently reached 145 million units.

A few weeks ago, a new rumor reached the web, suggesting that we may actually have to wait longer for GTA 6 to see the daylight. How much longer? Until 2025, at least, so in theory, we might be some four years away from the moment the game is supposed to see the daylight.

And while this may be disappointing for GTA fans out, it really makes sense for Rockstar not to bring the next version of the game to the market earlier than 2025. And there are two reasons for this.

The first one is the way the GTA V still sells. Despite seeing daylight in 2013, GTA V is still as popular as it gets, and the enhanced version coming later this year is likely to breathe new life in the game. So in theory, this should be enough for GTA V to get a fresh touch that would ease up the wait for its successor.

The second is the one that’s equally important for Rockstar. The lack of new-gen consoles is a shortcoming that nobody has managed to deal with, so right now, if you want to buy a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series X or S, you must be really lucky to find one in stock. Significantly impacted by the global chip shortage, the new-gen console inventory is a major headache for game developers as well, as their new releases do support these devices, and their lack means players aren’t able to try out their latest titles.

In other words, if Rockstar launches GTA 6 earlier than expected, the new-gen console shortage means gamers wouldn’t have the chance to try out the game anyway. GTA 6 will be only available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S (rumor has it support for PS4 and Xbox One wouldn’t be offered), and given the current console inventory, the early market performance of the game would suffer due to the lack of devices where it can run.

So what Rockstar must do is first wait for Sony and Microsoft to deal with the console crisis and only then decide when to launch the next GTA. Experts believe the chip shortage would come to an end at some point next year, so hopefully, the information regarding GTA 6’s launch date would be more reliable in late 2022.