It's no overstatement to say Grand Theft Auto 6 is one of the biggest games on the horizon, but developer Rockstar Games is remaining silent on the game's release date. This leaves rumors, leaks, and guesses to flood the internet as fans wait to get their first official glimpse of the game. While some of these release date theories are built on logic, others seem to have been plucked out of thin air.
Announcing the release date of any game is always a difficult task, as it puts a firm deadline on the project not only for those actively developing it, but also for investors, shareholders, and - of course - those waiting to play it. In the past, Rockstar Games has been accused of crunch on games like Red Dead Redemption 2, with developers allegedly working excessively to get the game out on time. With GTA 6, another major factor when thinking about its release date is quite simple: the game doesn't even have an announcement trailer yet, meaning it's likely still a very long way from hitting store shelves. With that said, there's still some evidence to suggest the game could have an internal release date set - though there's plenty of rumors and leaks that seem too outlandish to be true.
Supposedly Leaked Voice Memos
One of the more unlikely rumors around GTA 6's release date began in September, when it was claimed that the game would be getting a trailer in October 2023, with the game itself launching in October 2024. As reported by GameRant, alleged voice notes from Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick appeared online, with the CEO supposedly confirming an October reveal. Plenty of fans were quick to debunk the "leak" though, noting a number of concerns that suggested the audio was simply AI-generated.
One major AI flag from the audio is Zelnick calling the game "GTA I-V," as opposed to the much more commonly used in speech, "GTA 6." There was also some confusion over whether the audio was saying the game would be launching October 2024, or October 24th [2023], though the latter seems even more unlikely. Curiously, the audio clips were soon hit with copyright strikes, which typically suggests some validity, however, the general consensus is that these audio clips were fan-made.
Rockstar's History of October
There's one good reason why plenty of fans think a GTA 6 announcement is imminent, and that's due to the time of year. Rockstar is historically known for October reveals, with both GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 each being announced in October. Fuel to this speculative fire was added earlier in the month, when fans noticed Rockstar hadn't yet pinned a tweet for October, something the team normally does quite early on.
This led to a lot of disappointment when Rockstar finally pinned a tweet about its Halloween Horrors GTA Online event on October 5, though at the time of this writing, it's now been unpinned with no replacement yet made. Despite the confusion on X, there's still lots of hopeful fans eagerly awaiting a GTA 6 teaser trailer - if not a full release date announcement - sometime this October 2023. Could it happen? It's still possible, as Rockstar's game announcements typically happen in late October.
"Teaser" In GTA Online Promotional Art
At this point it's been 10 years since GTA 5 released and five years since the launch of RDR2, meaning hopes for any crumb of news on GTA 6 are at an all-time high. As such, plenty of internet sleuths are scouring Rockstar's job listings, social accounts, and even official artwork for any clue as to when the game might release. X user MJ__Hernandez claims to have found such a clue in the aforementioned Halloween Horrors tweet, with the artwork supposedly containing the Roman numerals for the number six.
While lots of the GTA 6 community are simply trolling at this point, it's also possible that the Rockstar team really is including random nods to GTA 6 just to keep fans on their toes. This claim doesn't have a lot to back it up, and there appears to be no release date hidden in the artwork, but it has given fans more hope for some sort of update in October 2023.
Take-Two's Projections
The most concrete evidence of GTA 6's release date comes directly from Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two Interactive. In a May 2023 press release that focused on 2024 and beyond, the company said: "In Fiscal 2025, we expect to enter this new era by launching several groundbreaking titles that we believe will set new standards in our industry and enable us to achieve over $8 billion in Net Bookings and over $1 billion in Adjusted Unrestricted Operating Cash Flow. We expect to sustain this momentum by delivering even higher levels of operating results in Fiscal 2026 and beyond."
Breaking this down, Take-Two is expecting a very profitable 2024 - 2025, suggesting this might well be when Rockstar has set the internal release date for GTA 6. Of course, the statement doesn't mention any game by title, and does include the mention of "several" titles, likely being the amalgamation of many of the 2024/2025 releases under the Take-Two umbrella. However, "over $8 billion in Net Bookings" is incredibly ambitious - perhaps something only attainable with the release of the next installment in one of the most lucrative game series of all time. For now, fans will just have to continue to wait patiently.
Source: GameRant, Rockstar Games/X,