It’s possibly the biggest question in gaming – when will GTA 6 be released? And this week saw a significant update from Rockstar’s owners, Take-Two Interactive on when that is likely to be.
See our breakdown of the news in the video above.
The background to the GTA 6 release date
GTA 5 was released all the way back in September 2013 meaning a gap of at least 10 years between GTA releases, although Rockstar will of course argue that there have been many GTA Online updates in the meantime. Indeed Rockstar have also spoken about GTA 5 and Online’s longevity having come as something of a surprise which may have contributed to the delay given a possibly reluctance to affect that revenue stream.
Last year saw the infamous hack and leak of early development footage from GTA 6 which forced Rockstar to issue a statement confirming that indeed GTA 6 was already in development:
We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way. Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned and we remain as committed as sever to delivering an experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds your expectations. We will update everyone again soon and, of course, will properly introduce you to this next game when it is ready.
It has been quiet since this update and clearly ‘soon’ is a very loose term given it’s been getting on for 8 months since that comment.
News on the likely release date for GTA 6
This week, however, saw the next significant news and this time it was from Rockstar’s owners, Take-Two Interactive on their quarterly investor update.
Their slides, which you can see here, confirmed that further progress has been made:
Active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well underway
Significantly, the presentation focused in on Fiscal 2025 as the key year in Take-Two’s pipeline with some huge targets in place and of course it’s not hard to work out that the next iteration of the most successful game in history will be key to achieving those ambitious targets, particularly when they have already confirmed that it is on the way.
In Fiscal 2025, we expect to enter this new era by launching several groundbreaking titles that we believe will set new standards in our industry and enable us to achieve over $8billion in Net Bookings
The CEO, Strauss Zelnick, added an interesting comment to back this up during the call confirming that this would be a huge event in the industry:
As you know, it’s exceedingly rare that we talk about out years. And when we do, it’s because we have a high degree of confidence. It’s a reflection of the pipeline we’ve been investing in for years.
So, something big is coming and nothing is bigger than the next GTA, particularly when you’re a company of Take-Two’s size with already sizeable revenues.
Fiscal 2025 and GTA 6 release date
Fiscal 2025 was the key date given for their growth targets, but what does this mean and more importantly what does this mean for the likely release date of GTA 6?
Take-Two’s Fiscal 2025 is a ‘company’ year which is from April 2024 to March 2025 giving a clear window for the release. And of course Christmas is the key sales period making it likely that this is the target they have in mind and as things stand the probable release target for GTA 6.
The earnings call also hinted at some challenges in the release pipeline with comments including “the development timelines of some of our titles have lengthened“. This may of course be referring to other titles getting held up as a results of the focus on GTA 6, but it’s interesting that they bring it up given an official release date hasn’t been announced yet for GTA 6 or other significant titles, such as a possible Red Dead Redemption 3.
So, what do we know? We know that GTA 6 is in development, we know that Fiscal 2025 is the key period for Take-Two’s targets and we know that Christmas is the biggest period of the year for gaming releases, all of which gives a likely release date of Christmas 2024 for GTA 6.
And before the release will come the trailer meaning it’s possible we will see a trailer in 2023. If you look at Rockstar’s history they love to give hints to future titles in existing games, meaning we can expect to see some teasers soon, probably in GTA Online.
It’s a long time to wait after more than a decade, but let’s hope that it’s worth it. Certainly Take-Two’s bullish targets suggest it will be…
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