Yes, you read that right – it happened again. Grand Theft Auto 6, one of the most anticipated games of all time (seriously, has been officially delayed for the second time). The highly wanted sequel to GTA V was originally expected to be playable by spring 2025, then it was going to be Fall 2025 and well – it’s Winter now, and we still have no GTA 6 in our hands.
If you ask the fans, there seems to be a (unsurprising) amount of cynicism concerning the actual release date of GTA 6, considering most of the Reddit forums are filling up with complaints and sarcastic remarks, ranging from “this will be the next Duke Nukem Forever”, and “if it releases, it’s never going to hold up to the hype”.
Delays are nothing new in the AAA space, but it seems like few in recent years hurt the gaming community as much as this one. And we understand, GTA 6’s release is a cultural phenomenon over a decade in the making, since the momentous release of GTA V in 2013. After 12 years of waiting, it appears even Rockstar’s famously pretty patient fanbase is starting to get a tiny bit annoyed – and we worded that nicely. But why was GTA 6 delayed again?
Why GTA 6 Was Delayed (Again)
We have to dig a little deeper than the notoriously awful Reddit forums here, so according to the reports and insider accounts we dug up, Rockstar’s reasoning for this repeated delay comes down to quality assurance and bottlenecks in internal development – so pretty much the usual spiel, we think.
The game’s huge scale might be a contributing factor too, since it will reportedly span Vice City and the surrounding regions as well, so creating a game of this size, considering GTA’s cities are always pretty alive and full of dynamic systems, is an enormous endeavor indeed – so no surprise there.
Another issue might be the technical issues with the RAGE engine, or rather its next iteration. Some sources close to the project claim that the AI-driven systems meant to make the world feel…well, exactly as GTA open worlds feel like, are not behaving the way they should. So the “unprecedented” internal pressure, especially after Red Dead Redemption 2’s success is perfectly understandable.
We guess that the issue isn’t the time it takes to create this monster of a game, but rather the lack of transparent communication and the fact that the second delay came just after it was supposed to be released – not before. Now true, Rockstar has always committed to excellence and the company’s official statement reassured befuddled fans that the extra time needed to polish is well-needed and will make for a better product in the end.
But let’s face facts, we’ve all heard that from Rockstar before, and we’re kind of over it at this point. We just hope that this won’t damage the game’s reception before it even comes out. Will GTA 6 be delayed again? We don’t know, but it is a sad possibility.
Could GTA 6 Be Delayed Yet Again?
The million-dollar question – or in Rockstar’s case, the billion-dollar one – is whether this new date will actually hold. And unfortunately, history suggests that another delay is entirely possible.
Rockstar has a long track record of pushing its biggest projects. GTA V was delayed multiple times before its eventual release, and Red Dead Redemption 2 saw two postponements before it finally hit shelves in 2018. Each time, the result was worth the wait, but that doesn’t mean players are eager to repeat the experience.
Industry insiders point to the sheer complexity of GTA 6’s open world – said to feature a living, evolving Vice City that reacts to player decisions – as one of the main risk factors for further delays. With rumors of additional expansions planned post-launch and even a potential online component ready for early access, it’s clear the game is far from finished.
There’s also the issue of Rockstar’s work culture, which has been under scrutiny since reports of crunch surfaced during Red Dead 2’s production. Many fans wonder whether Rockstar’s desire to avoid another PR firestorm could be contributing to a slower, more cautious development pace this time around.
So could GTA 6 slip into late 2026 or even 2027? It’s unlikely, but not impossible. As one fan put it on Reddit: “Rockstar won’t release it until it’s perfect. Which means…we’ll be playing this on PlayStation 6.” Yikes. Having said that, the new release is the 19th of November 2026, so there’s enough time for them to re-evaluate the release date – again. Could they really pull this on us? We’ll see.
