GTA 6: expected release, leaks, location, platforms and everything else we know

 

GTA 6 still remains a mystery for the most part, but there are some slight threads we can pull on to help paint a better picture about Rockstar’s highly anticipated sequel.

It would be an understatement to say that GTA 6 represents one of the most hyped video games of all time. GTA 5 launched near enough a whopping 10 years ago back on the PS3 and Xbox 360, before being ported to PS4 and Xbox One a year later, and then again eventually coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X. Launching on so many platforms – with new incremental mechanical and graphical improvements each time – only goes to show just how popular Rockstar’s crime-em-up still is, hence the anticipation for its eventual sequel, GTA 6.

Rockstar has kept up its usual policy of secrecy when it comes to all things GTA 6, only speaking out on the topic when it’s been forced to by leaks. There’s not a great deal of confirmed information out there about the game, therefore, but there’s still a handful of details that have been made known through the occasional drip. That’s what we’ve gathered up for you all in one place here.

GTA 6: expected release

The big question everyone wants to know is when GTA 6 will be released. Sadly, as is to be expected for a game its developer doesn’t even really want to acknowledge (they begrudgingly confirmed it), the GTA 6 release date is still unknown. We can only speculate as to when the highly anticipated sequel to GTA 5 might release. Regular leaker Tom Henderson, however, took to Twitter back in July, 2022, to say that Rockstar was supposedly targeting a “fall 2024” release.

This came in response to a Bloomberg report from Jason Schrier regarding how Rockstar was attempting to “clean up its frat-boy culture” following several industry criticisms. This led Henderson to theorise that GTA 6 has probably suffered from an internal delay while it restructures, possibly targeting a release date closer to 2025 now as a result. There's word that Rockstar is so intent on this release date, it's even reportedly scrapped previously included DLC content.

GTA 6’s release date falling into 2025 also aligns with what GTA forums user Tez2 has heard too. “Their aimed-always-changing-not-set-in-stone deadline is holiday 2024,” his post read, before going on to speculate that “it could slip into early 2025 as well”. Neither release window has yet to be officially confirmed or acknowledged by Rockstar itself, leaving players and developers alike to endlessly speculate as to when the GTA 6 release date might be.

GTA 6: location

The GTA 6 location is probably the one factoid about the game we know to be a hard fact. This is because a spate of gameplay leaks released online last year on September 18, 2022, all but confirmed that the GTA 6 location will be none other than Vice City. Last seen in the PSP spin-off GTA: Vice City Stories, the original version consisted of two main islands you could travel between depending on the desired mission. But, as was the case with the San Andreas map Rockstar revisited for GTA 5, the version of Vice City featured in GTA 6 is expected to be much larger in scope.

Vice City itself is based on the real-life city of Miami, so being surrounded by plenty of water (as was the case last time) was to be expected. Whereas the original version was set in the 1980s, however, the 90 videos leaked online last year indicate that time has moved on by several decades when GTA 6 takes place. Although the exact time period still isn’t known. Jason Schreier has revealed in a tweet that this version of Vice City will benefit from an “evolving/expanding map” similar to GTA Online.

GTA 6: platforms

Even though Rockstar has made a habit of releasing GTA 5 on every major home console platform since 2013 when it first launched, it’s hard to believe that GTA 6 will support last-gen hardware. Plus, given the proposed release date of 2024/2025, we can expect it to release on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One will likely be left behind so that the game can look its very best and take full advantage of current-gen systems.

Unfortunately for PC players, the path for GTA 6 is a lot less clear. GTA 5 launched on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One long before it eventually came to PC. And with Rockstar’s latest game, Red Dead Redemption 2, the game didn’t come to PC until well over a year later. This indicates that PS5 and Xbox Series X are likely what Rockstar will target first by way of GTA 6 platforms, with a possible PC version coming later.