This week, Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, again promised that the long-awaited release of Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6) would arrive in fall 2025. The company stuck to the same timeline they’ve previously mentioned but didn’t reveal any new news about the game’s progress or how it’s being made. The reassurances will excite fans of the franchise. Still, after the games industry’s recent history of delays and underwhelming launches for big-budget titles, the fans are left in a familiar state of suspense.
It’s the latest in a year of sparse Rockstar updates, so sparse that there was only one trailer, released more than a year ago. Rockstar is no stranger to the lack of updates, but the lack of follow-up details on gameplay or features has stoked doubts. Recently, we have all seen high-budget, triple-A games being hyped for years to not fulfill their promises. For example, the celebrated release of Cyberpunk 2077 was damaged by technical problems, bugs, and players’ dissatisfaction in the wake of rushed timelines. The fact that fans worry that early release worries fans could ruin GTA 6, and they’re begging Rockstar to delay the game until they get it right.
Can Rockstar avoid another troubled launch with GTA 6?
This should be as high a stakes as possible for Rockstar with GTA 6. For being an open-world game, the attention to detail and immersive worlds is something Rockstar has leaned into historically, and the long-awaited release of GTA 6 is one of the most highly anticipated releases of modern memory. This isn’t just about making a game in time, though—there lies the added pressure for Rockstar to create something of great quality, considering the disappointing results of other big studios’ huge budget releases over recent years. Rockstar’s reputation rides on GTA 6 meeting – and bettering – fans’ expectations of the game.
Industry insiders and fans alike suspect they’ve pushed the timeline a bit too far with a 2025 release date, indicating that Take-Two has a lot of faith in their development timeline. Creating an open-world game of this scope typically means multiple testing phases, last-minute adjustments, and fixes for bugs — which can both put you in a release date position. But, given Rockstar’s track record regarding delays to games until they’re fully polished, there might even be hope among fans that they wouldn’t allow GTA 6 to slip under the early 2026 mark to damage their reputation with a rushed release.
There is speculation that a delay to 2026 could happen, but Take-Two is adamant it will meet the 2025 goal. Rockstar knows the stakes of launching a game that doesn’t reach potential are high, and everyone on that development team knows it. They aren’t hopeful companies that released unfinished products will also get the message—even if that means waiting a year longer.
Ultimately, players want to play GTA 6 as a Rockstar product, a high-budget, high-quality game, not a rushed product. The promise of a 2025 release is compelling. Still, the GTA community is cautious, many hoping for a neat and finished package — even if it means a delay so that Rockstar can deliver a game that lives up to the series tradition. As fans anticipate more updates, the big question looms: Will Rockstar make their 2025 deadline, or will the pursuit for greatness cause GTA to be released later?
Image credit: Rockstar Games
