The developer's highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI, which was scheduled to arrive on May 26 next year, has been delayed again – this time to the conclusion of 2026. This marks close to 24 months since the title's announcement, and more than 12 years since Grand Theft Auto V was released on the gaming scene.
“Grand Theft Auto VI will now debut on Thursday, November 19, 2026,” states Rockstar Games's announcement on social media. “We are sorry for adding additional time to what we recognize has been a long wait, but these additional months will allow us to finish the game with the quality you have grown accustomed to and rightly merit.”
The long-anticipated game stars a romantically entwined pair of criminals named Lucia and Jason in Rockstar’s sun-bleached version of the city of Miami, Vice City, and the broader Florida-like state of Leonida. Development has been underway at the Edinburgh studio in Edinburgh, with assistance from the company’s other studios in New York and worldwide, since the year 2018. Its original release window was late 2025.
It has been anticipated that Grand Theft Auto VI would reinvigorate an struggling gaming sector, which has seen a decline after a pandemic-driven surge. Based on game publisher Take-Two Interactive's latest earnings statements, its forerunner GTA V has earned $8.6 billion since its debut in 2013. The studio's previous title, the critically acclaimed Red Dead Redemption II, was released in 2018 and achieved $725 million in revenue over its opening weekend.
Gamers, in the meantime, have had a exceptionally lengthy period to look forward to the developer's newest release: even by the standards of the video games industry, where six-year development periods for major titles are commonplace, the more than 12-year wait for Grand Theft Auto VI has been extensive.
