Grand Theft Auto VI delayed to November 2026, Rockstar confirms

ROCKSTAR GAMES, the American video game publisher behind the smash-hit Grand Theft Auto series, has shared an update on Instagram regarding their upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI title … although it is not the update fans were hoping to hear. According to the Instagram post, the release date for the already long-awaited game has been pushed back from May 2026 to Thursday, November 19, 2026.

Rockstar Games needs extra months for ‘polish’ that fans deserve

Wrote Rockstar Games in their Instagram post on Thursday, November 6: “We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve. We want to thank you again for your patience and support. While the wait is a little longer, we are incredibly excited for players to experience the sprawling state of Leonida and a return to modern day Vice City.”

Vice City, back and bigger than ever before

…And ‘sprawling’ it will reportedly be. Taking place in the fictional Vice City, located in Leonida (a parody of Florida), and inspired by Miami, the game will have enormous shoes to fill after Grand Theft Auto V, whose huge and detailed setting was famously inspired by Los Angeles. An action-adventure series, Grand Theft Auto follows the stories of criminals as they traverse the grimy, vulgar dark side of gang-ridden, heart-pounding, and fast-paced American cities.

The most recent trailer for the game, released on May 6, 2025, gives fans a sneak peek into the protagonists, a criminal couple, and their fast-paced life amid sandy beaches, humid Floridian (or rather, Leonidan) weather, and sleazy nightclubs. The trailer has garnered nearly 140,000,000 views.

A release accumulating unmanageable hype

To say that Grand Theft Auto VI is highly-anticipated would be an understatement. Since its announcement in December 2023, the game has garnered a massive amount of excitement from fans, especially after the smash success of Grand Theft Auto V, which was released 12 years ago and is the second best-selling video game of all time, with an unbelievable 220 million copies sold. (The first is Minecraft, with more than 350 million copies sold). Grand Theft Auto VI is now considered one of the most anticipated upcoming video game titles of all time.

‘I’ll be married with kids before GTA 6 comes out’

The long wait for the new game has garnered frustration, impatience, and jokes from the reactive gaming community. The anticipation for the title even inspired a widely-used meme, in which users list all the other releases and unlikely events that happened before GTA 6 was released. Even now, some users are joking that Grand Theft Auto VII will see the light of day before its predecessor does. 

Amusingly, it’s possible that Barcelona’s world-famous, unfinished basilica, the Sagrada Familia, will be completed before GTA 6 releases, as the newest estimates for the church now project its completion in 2026.

Rockstar Games: Paying players with crypto?

Rockstar Games is also rumoured to be releasing its own cryptocurrency, inspired by fan theories that have been brewing for years, and that have been picking up traction in recent months. However, there is as of yet no evidence that the game will include any cryptocurrency bonuses for players. In fact, Rockstar Games banned cryptocurrencies and NFTs from their GTA online servers in 2022, citing their policies against forms of monetisation. They have, as yet, not made any statement regarding the popular theory.

Grand Theft Auto VI is set to be released for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. When it does release, GTA 6 will have been one of the most expensive games ever made, but it is also expected to surpass records with its sales.

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