Grand Theft Auto 6 has been in development for quite a while, and its release date has been rumored to be around the time of E3. Since then, we have gotten quite a few updates on the game’s progress, making fans curious about what that timeline looks like.
Beyond its release date, gamers can see some information regarding Grand Theft Auto 6, including new details on who will act as the protagonist in this game and some rumors regarding launch platforms.
We’ve compiled all the information we could find on the game, including rumors and release date predictions. If you want more information on this next-generation game, then this article will help you out.
GTA 6 Release Date – When Will the Game Launch?
As GTA 6 has been officially announced by Rockstar Games, fans have been speculating about its launch date. By taking a look at the launch date of the various GTA games so far, we might get an indication of when the sixth iteration could possibly release.
When broken down into individual parts, it’s apparent that a pattern is being followed for the release dates, with the most common timeframe being October. It’s the most frequent month that Rockstar likes to release the majority of its titles.
Early Development
A report published by Kotaku in April 2020 suggests that the next Grand Theft Auto iteration is still in its early stage of development, which means there might still be a couple of years before its official launch by Rockstar Games.
Game journalists like Jason Schreier and Tom Henderson further corroborated the claim by stating that GTA 6 may not release until 2024-2025.
Market Expenditures
Another report suggests that Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company, is likely to spend over $89 million in marketing over its financial period, as per Venture Beat. The extravagantly high budget is suspected to be due to the launch of GTA 6 during 2024-2025.
However, when asked directly, Take-Two straight away denied the claim, stating that the marketing budget was allocated for their third-party contracts and isn’t related to the internal affairs of Rockstar Games in any way.
Is The Trailer for GTA 6 Out?
While Rockstar has officially confirmed that they are working on the development of GTA 6, nothing has been updated regarding the trailer so far, unlike GTA V, whose trailer was released a few days after the confirmation of the game.
It isn’t expected to arrive anytime soon either. The last major trailer released by Rockstar was on October 8, 2021, for Grand Theft Auto: Trilogy – The Definitive edition, so it can be assumed that a trailer for GTA 6 might arrive in late 2022 at the earliest.
GTA 6 Map Details – Where the Game Is Set?
Based on all the games Rockstar has released in their GTA series so far, two are based in Los Santos, many are related to Liberty City, and only one of those titles is related to Vice City. That being said, it won’t be of many surprises if Rockstar features the iconic VC in GTA 6.
This rumor also fits perfectly with the Bloomberg report that suggests the location of GTA 6 is said to be based in Miami and its surrounding areas. Here are some of the updates related to the map details of GTA 6 that we came across:
Caribbean Island
If you have ever completed GTA San Andreas, you may know about the mission named “Saint Mark’s Bistro,” in which you have to take a flight to liberty city and kill a character. The location isn’t accessible in the game anywhere other than this mission.
Keeping this in mind, a prominent leaker named Matheusvictorbr suggests that Rockstar might be looking forward to making a part of GTA 6 take place in the Caribbean Island, which isn’t expected to be a part of the primary open world in the game.
Similar to San Andreas, Rockstar did something like this earlier with Red Dead Redemption 2 as well. However, no assumptions can be made about why this particular location won’t be accessible in the main game.
An Expanding Map
After the massive success of GTA Online, Rockstar Games understands how much users love getting new content in the game. According to Tee Henderson, GTA 6 is likely to feature an expanding map.
In case this rumor turns out to be true, we’ll be seeing various DLCs and event-oriented maps added to the game over the years. This particular feature has a very high chance of appearing in the game, given that many sources have covered it.
Detailed Interiors
GTA fans have been demanding detailed and more explorable interiors for a long time, and Rockstar finally seems to listen to them. Numerous reports indicate that GTA 6 may have more explorable interiors as compared to any other open-world game in the present.
If that happens to be true, then the nine years of development for its much-anticipated release will be justified.
GTA 6 News, Rumors, and Leaks
As the hype for GTA 6 grows, more and more fans are trying to get their hands on any piece of information they can get related to the game. Below are some of the most popular news snippets, leaks, and rumors surrounding Grand Theft Auto 6:
First Playable Female Protagonist
According to a report published by Bloomberg in July 2022, GTA 6 will be the first-ever Grand Theft Auto iteration featuring a female protagonist. It states that this is done to change the workspace culture at Rockstar.
However, Bloomberg is not the first to confirm that there will be a female playable character in the game. A well-known leaker Tom Henderson suggested that GTA 6 will have multiple playable characters, including a female character who’s into hacking and technology.
He wrote in a report that the female character is supposed to be a Latina who will pair with one of the story’s leading characters.
Rockstar Games is Hiring
Rockstar appears to constantly recruit candidates to work on GTA 6 as they posted over 200 jobs on Hitmarker during July 2022. 70 of these job titles were published in a 24-hour timeframe.
There’s also a position vacant for an associate content designer for which the job ad states that the company is looking for someone who can create and author various game-related content like competitive modes, missions, open-world objectives, and more.
The Game Faces Turbulence
Tom Henderson also stated that the work on GTA 6 is in quite a turbulent state. He further clarified that the development hasn’t been easy amidst the pandemic, people leaving, and more. However, he added that despite the turbulence, the game should be estimated to be launched by 2024-25.
Next-Gen Engine
Earlier this month, the founder of Rockstar Mag, Chris Keppel, claimed that a new graphics engine – named RAGE9 – is expected to be used by Rockstar Games for its next iteration of the Grand Theft Auto series.
The technology is described as “Ahead of its time” and is said to challenge or even outperform the Unreal Engine, which is currently the industry’s pioneer. Klippel also suggested that this gaming engine could be used for GTA 6.
Crucial Milestones Achieved
Rockstar has remained secretive about the release of GTA 6, but a sudden change in the momentum might suggest that the much-anticipated release is a lot closer than we think. Rockstar games confirmed its active development in a blog post.
While it is still unknown how long GTA 6 has been under development, with GTA 5’s release date being nearly a decade ago, the finished product appears to be way closer than ever. Chris Kippel suggests that the sequel is far into the process.
Ought To Keep Things Fresh
Ever since Rockstar launched the expanded and enhanced version of GTA 5, the nearly a decade-old title seems to be revived for another generation of consoles. However, things ought to change with GTA 6, says Strauss.
An interview conducted by Gamesindustry.biz with Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick verified that GTA 6 is under development and not linked to the past in any way. Zelnick said Roxkstr needs to bring the consumers what they want, and protecting the past makes it irrelevant.
The Only New Rockstar Game This Gen
AccGNT, a prominent leaker, stated that Rockstar might be putting all their might into GTA 6. In a Q&A hosted in January 2022, he asked Zerkhov how many games the fans can expect from Rockstar in this generation, in which he said GTA 6 is the only one to be released.
Issues in Development
Certain rumors have been revolving across the web that the development of GTA 6 is not going quite well. In a podcast episode hosted by Rockstar’s Mag, Chris Klippel spoke about how the game has been rebooted since Dan Houser left the firm.
Moreover, AccNGT, the Star Wars Eclipse leaker, further backed the claim by stating that the game is in development hell. So far, we haven’t even received a trailer, so it is easy to guess that the development is taking quite some time.
First View Hidden in GTA Trilogy
Soon after the GTA: Trilogy – The Definitive Edition launch, players managed to locate a house with a hanging photo of the famous Lil’ Probe ‘Inn in San Andreas. However, it doesn’t seem to be a part of any game of the series.
This speculates it to be the first view of GTA 6. In addition, Kotaku observed a billboard in the GTA III Remastered version that changed its title from “See you in Miami” to “See you soon.” Players suggest that this might be a teaser by Rockstar.
Change in Tone
In an interview with the YouTuber Killaz, Jamie King, the co-founder and former vice president of Rockstar Games, was talking about his time at the company and was sharing his thoughts on what the next iteration of the GTA games would be look like.
He said he wouldn’t be surprised if Rockstar changed its well-known edgy tone. There’s more opportunity for them to do something cheesy, he added. This might indicate that GTA 6 may have a rather unique tone than usual.
Upgrade in Visuals
The hype for Grand Theft Auto 6 is growing crazily as another leak came from Rockstar’s official website, indicating that GTA 6 will amp up its graphics and gameplay to bring a spectacular experience to the game.
According to an official job listing from Rockstar’s New England office, the studio is looking for a VFX artist to work on some amazing next-gen visuals. The listing requires the artist to bring extra life to the environment and make it more realistic.
Yet Another Vice City Rumor
In an Instagram post published by an employee at rockstar, rumors surrounding the infusion of the vice city in the game have started evolving.
Known as Tony Mesones on his Instagram handle, he is the music supervisor and soundtrack manager for rockstar. He has contributed to numerous grand theft auto games like GTA 5 and Read Dead Redemption 2.
The post features Miami’s South Beach with the caption, “who said it would be cold.” Although most of us will presume it as a simple holiday photo, some fans noted that Mesons has tagged rockstar games, indicating this might be a project-related trip.
Moreover, another report by Henderson states that rockstar games have been actively focusing on employee well-being for the past year. While Rockstar wants to release the game as soon as possible, they don’t want to make their employees work extra hours.
GTA Online Accompanying GTA 6
Henderson claims that along with the release of GTA 6, the online version of the series will also accompany the game through an evolving map that would change every time a new DLC is released. He also claimed that the release of GTA 6 will also add to the default GTA map online.
Cryptocurrency Mission Rewards
The popular Battlefield and Call of Duty leaker. Tom Henderson posted on Twitter about a rumor he’s heard regarding GTA 6’s mission rewards. He said the mission rewards would likely be crypto payments rather than cash.
Although cryptocurrency will not replace cash as the primary in-game currency, it will work alongside it, and the stock market will return in GTA 6 too. He also said a broker would be added to the game for different cryptocurrencies.
More Single-Player Experiences
For those who are hoping for more single-player experiences in GTA 6, the CEO of Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two Interactive has some good news. Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two CEO, stated that Rockstar would continue to provide single-player experiences despite the success of their online realm.
Zelnick stated in a Q3 earnings call that the folks at Rockstar Games have always aimed at creating story-driven experiences with the single-player experiences in the game since Rockstar has always been known for their interactive stories.
He also added that Rockstar succeeded with both single and multiplayer experiences, which indicates that they can have both instead of going forward with just one of them. Another interview by GQ with Rockstar’s Tarek Hamad and Scott Butchard further back this claim.
In the interview, when they were asked whether Rockstar will continue with single-player stories even though their online realm continues to grow, Hamad stated that it might become a part of the online experience by adding more single-player elements in the online gameplay.
Smarter NPCs
According to a new patent filed by Take-Two, the publishers of Grand Theft Auto, the NPCs might have an improved AI system. The patent trademarks a system that features new methods for virtual navigation in the in-game meta. The patent was published in October 2020.
It focuses mainly on how NPCs move around the world and interact with the environments around them, specifically emphasizing their driving. The patent also highlights that the present system has very limited resources to automate NPCs.
Using the tech in the patent, Rockstar can create a much more realistic virtual environment that isn’t limited by the conventional limitations of the hardware or the software. For instance, the tech might include different driver profiles to offer a more natural and realistic behavior.
This means that the speed limits may be adhered to more dynamically and car crashes or street lights could be recognized and responded to more quickly. The driving NPCs might also be able to react to certain things like high-speed chases and traffic jams as well.
Moreover, the patent also considers general driving skills, which would allow NPCs to have a better understanding of the vehicle handling at top speeds and braking times to provide a more realistic experience on the roads.
However, keep in mind that the patent is filed by Take-Two, which means it need not necessarily be about GTA 6, but one way in which it correlates to the GTA franchise is that the inventors of the system are David Hynd and Simon Parr, who work as Associate Director and Lead AI programmer at Rockstar.
As with any other patent, there is no assurance that the experimental findings will be applied in the final product, but it does indicate that the system was likely created for GTA 6 and we may see more open-ended and smarter NPCs on the roads.
GTA In VR
The developers of the popular La Noire: VR Case Files, Video Games Deluxe, recently posted on LinkedIn in 2020 that they are working on a new project with Rockstar. They also advertised job openings in their Sydney-based studio.
Later in 2022, the developers confirmed that they are working on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas VR, which is said to be released on the Oculus Quest 2. Lately, Rockstar has been experimenting a lot with the boundaries of gaming hardware.
Moreover, as PSVR 2 is also set to launch anytime in the coming 12 months, the likelihood of being able to see a VR-based version of GTA 6 is very high.
Florida Settings
A quick 15-second video on GTA Forums reveals a preview of the new GTA 6 map. The video was quite blurry and contained some images that could possibly be of the GTA 6 map, which is speculated to feature many Florida-based locations like Vice City.
The map images in the video show some areas yet to be discovered, which is as usual as every other Grand Theft Auto game, in addition to a left-hand side menu that reveals certain activities that a player might be able to do, such as Restaurants and Gym.
Moreover, it appears credible because when the player moves the cursor through the map, the cities’ names and HUD are also being updated in real-time. What’s more interesting is that these leaks align closely with the GTA 6 leaks posted on 4Chan.
They later talked about plastic surgeons and stated names of various locations, such as White Water, which is said to be a small town on the western part of the map. Furthermore, a Reddit user named ColonelPuffin managed to deblur the images and regain an HD version of the leaked map.
The recreated map appears to be based on several areas in Florida, such as Vice Gardens, Quincy World, Poinciana beach, Tortona Beach, Bluefish Point, Polo Island, The Swamplands, Big Key Head, White Water, and many more.
Might Be the Last GTA Game
Another speculation coming straight from Tom Henderson, the latest theory he published on Dualshockers, suggests that GTA 6 could be the last game from the Grand Theft Auto iteration. It sounds crazy, but Henderson backs the claim by stating the details he pondered about the game.
He also states that it would be both shocking and shameful for such a popular franchise to come to a halt. However, the ever-growing popularity of GTA Online and the constantly growing map gives no reason for Rockstar to continue following up with the franchise after GTA 6.
Henderson also suggests that Rockstar is trying to make a future-proof video game with the help of GTA 6, which would consist of constant updates that keep the meta interesting and relevant while providing fresh and new concepts to the players.
Platforms Supported by GTA 6
As the game is potentially set to release anywhere between 2023-2024, we’ll definitely see it released on newer consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X. However, chances are that Rockstar might release a version for Xbox One and PS4 as well, but it is not guaranteed.
Moreover, since earlier Rockstar ported both Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA V for PC after a while of their console releases, chances are that there will be a PC version for Grand Theft Auto 6 too, but nothing can be confirmed so far.
What Will be The Storyline for GTA 6?
There are numerous rumors revolving around the GTA 6 story. People are talking about everything from a single protagonist to multiple heroes. A leak published on Reddit(now deleted) in 2020 suggests that the game’s premises will be set in the era of the 1970s/80s.
The leak also suggests that it will consist of a single male protagonist named “Ricardo” who wants to be a drug lord. Another character named “Kacey” is also speculated to be a part of the Grand Theft Auto 6 storyline narrative.
As per the leak, the protagonist starts off as a low-rank cocaine smuggler supplying from Vice City to South America. Eventually, he will connect with some top guns of the drug scene and climb up the hierarchy while traveling to multiple cities.
It even suggests that the story would feature a younger version of Martin Madrazo, whose father was a big drug lord at that time. You’d have to complete some missions for the Madrazo family involving attacking other enemy gangs.
As the premise is set in the 1970s/80s, the story is also said to cover certain topics like the immigration crisis and HIV. On the other hand, an earlier leak by Frieden reported that the game would feature four main characters – two cops and two gangsters.
According to this leak, the story will likely split after certain introductory missions where the gangster side will build a crime empire, and the cops’ side will have more action-packed gameplay with a little twist.
Another leak released in June 2021 suggests that the game is more of a modern-day version of Vice City, featuring multiple protagonists, including a tech-savvy woman. Even Schreier has given support to these claims.
However, on the contrary, Rockstar hasn’t made any confirmation or claim regarding the use of multiple protagonists in the game as in GTA V.; in a conversation with Jeuxactu, Rockstar talked about the main playable character of Red Dead Redemption, Arthur Morgan.
“Maybe we will do it again with another game, but in Red Dead Redemption 2, you are this man, and you will share his adventure,” they said.
What Rockstar Has to Say About GTA 6?
In an interview with Develop magazine, the former president of Rockstar North gave a little teaser about the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto rundown. He said he doesn’t know what GTA 6 will be, but they have around 45 years’ worth of ideas.
He said the premises start with where the game will be set and then focus on the missions. While there is not much we can take away from Benzies about how GTA 6 will look, it’s not likely that Rockstar will change its tried and tested development process.
Will GTA 6 be Released for PC?
Based on what we’ve heard about the Nex-Gen engine and enhancements, it’s evident that GTA 6 will initially release for consoles like PS5 and Xbox Series X. Moreover, with the recent GTA 5 Next-Gen update for consoles and PC, certain things have become apparent.
For instance, it’s almost assured that the GTA 6 PC port won’t be released simultaneously with the console version. However, both, the earlier games (GTA 4 and GTA 5) made their way to PC. Hopefully, GTA 6 will take that leap too.
Although the game won’t be launching simultaneously on PC and consoles, the former is willing to wait a little more again.
GTA 6 Online – Is There Going to Be a Multiplayer Platform?
Since its initial release in 2013, GTA V remains relevant to the date just because of its frequently updated online mode. GTA Online allows you to roam around the map, play different game modes, earn money, and purchase cars, clothes, houses, and more.
Keeping the immense popularity of GTA Online in mind, there is a high chance that a sequel might launch for the online gameplay alongside GTA 6. However, chances are that both the story experience and the online experience might be available separately.
That’s because today’s consoles can install specific game parts instead of the whole package. Rockstar perceives this as an opportunity to allow long-time GTA Online players to transfer their progress and money in the new iteration.
Of course, Rockstar has made a plethora of money from players who conduct microtransactions in the game. Nobody would certainly appreciate it if their valuable in-game items suddenly disappeared with the launch of a newer generation of GTA Online.
Bottom Line
So, that’s all about our roundup of news, leaks, and details about GTA 6. While we’re still very far away from getting our hands on the game, nothing’s letting us from sharing speculations that, who knows, might come to be true. Hopefully, this guide gives you a better idea of what the next iteration of Rockstar would look like.
