When is the GTA 6 release date? Grand Theft Auto V popped into our lives over ten years ago now (yes, it really has been that long), back when the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were king. Now, with the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S here and an official trailer finally out in the wild, we can finally start looking forward to the Grand Theft Auto 6 release date.
GTA 6 is in prime position to become one of the best PS5 games and best Xbox games of this console generation when it finally releases. Given Rockstar Games’ track record, and the amount of time it’s been in development, we believe this is more than likely. GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 are undoubtedly among the best open-world games of all time, and with current-gen tech under GTA 6’s belt, it’s got the potential to surpass them both. For all the latest information on Grand Theft Auto 6, here’s what you need to know.
GTA 6 release date window
The official GTA 6 release date window for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S is 2025, which was confirmed by Rockstar in the game’s reveal trailer. Analysis of publisher Take-Two’s earnings reports narrows things down further, suggesting that GTA 6 should come out between April and December of 2025.
GTA 6 was officially revealed by Rockstar Games on its social media back in November 2023, following confirmation back in February 2023 that it is in development. It’s record-shattering first trailer then arrived in December, and it closes with a reveal of the logo and the confirmation that it is “Coming 2025”.
While this is the official release date window as things stand, there has been plenty of speculation about when exactly in 2025 the game will arrive.
A Take-Two Interactive investor report posted in May 2023 projected that the company would make $8 billion in net bookings during the 2024-2025 fiscal year – a figure likely only achievable with the release of GTA 6. That made many people believe that GTA 6 would hit shelves in either January, February, or March 2025, as these were the only months where the official release window and the information in Take-Two’s report would match.
However, a more recent earnings report reveals a different story, with Take-Two revising its numbers. It now believes that in the 2024-25 financial year it will make $1 billion less than it previously forecasted. This drop can only really be explained by a shift in the expected GTA 6 release date. Analysts from Wedbush Securities explain: “We can only surmise that GTA 6 has slipped out of FY:25… The drop makes us almost certain that GTA 6 will not be releasing next FY. With that said, we have no reason to believe the game has slipped out of calendar 2025, but it is reasonable to assume that it will launch later in the year.”
In other words, the analysts expect GTA 6 to release on Xbox and PlayStation at some point between April 2025 and December 2025, based on the latest earnings report.
Before this recent analysis into the new earnings report, well-known Rockstar insider ‘Tez2’ on the GTA Forums stated that they “don’t think the upper management [at Rockstar] is in a position to delay further to holiday 2025/2026”, adding that upper management would rather cut content out of the game and add it later as DLCs instead of delaying any further. If this still rings true, we could see GTA 6 arrive in the summer months of 2025.
Although most of the evidence points towards Rockstar sticking to its 2025 window, an article from Kotaku in March suggested that the game could potentially slip into 2026 as “production reportedly falls behind”. While “Fall 2025” is still apparently the internal target for the release date, sources still believe a delay to 2026 could happen.
That’s all the latest news on the GTA 6 release date, specifically, but what other details do we have about the game itself? Let’s take a look.
GTA 6 platforms
GTA 6 is set to release on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only at launch, as confirmed by Rockstar in a press release that accompanied the first official trailer. Studio founder Sam Houser says that GTA 6 “continues [Rockstar’s] efforts to push the limits of what’s possible in highly immersive, story-driven open-world experiences.”
Houser’s words indicate that current-gen hardware is going to be absolutely maxed out, which doesn’t surprise us judging from the scale of the official trailer. As such, don’t hold your breath for a last-gen version – we’re certainly not.
As for PC players, you should expect to get GTA 6 several months after the console versions are out. With Rockstar’s last game, Red Dead Redemption 2, the PC version arrived just over a year after it launched on Xbox and PlayStation. Looking back to GTA 5, Rockstar did plan to release it simultaneously on PC and console, however it massively delayed its PC version. It eventually arrived almost 18 months after it first arrived on consoles. This trend looks set to continue with GTA 6.
GTA 6 trailers
The first and only GTA 6 trailer was initially leaked in early December 2023, with Rockstar opting to officially drop it just hours later. Not only were we finally treated to a banger of a GTA 6 trailer song, but we also got to learn a whole lot more about this new iteration of Vice City.
In the 90-second trailer, we’re introduced to the game’s dual protagonists – Lucia, the series’ first woman lead who is seemingly of Latin American descent, and a man who is widely believed to be called Jason (although this has not been explicitly confirmed by Rockstar). We’re also treated to footage of gorgeous vistas, vehicles, and various scenes that are synonymous with Floridian life – there is big ‘Florida man’ energy.
While we didn’t see any extended gameplay, the trailer does appear to be rendered using the in-game engine – a promising sign that it’s going to look at least this good, if not better, when launch day rolls around. We’re also gassed to see plenty of alligator action taking place and eagerly hope that we’ll be able to keep one as a pet.
GTA 6 location
GTA 6 is set in a fictional representation of the state of Florida, called Leonida. The first trailer of the game shows swamplands reminiscent of the Florida Everglades, a series of islands and bridges that clearly represent the Florida Keys, and confirms previous leaks and speculation that Vice City is back as the main urban area in GTA 6.
The return to Vice City was first known about following gameplay leaks in September 2022 and a report from Bloomberg. This iconic GTA location, which of course is Rockstar’s take on Miami, hasn’t been visited by players in a main series game in well over 20 years (that being in the self-titled Grand Theft Auto: Vice City from 2002).
The leaks suggested that GTA 6 would be set in the modern day, and this has since been confirmed by the TikTok-esque social media clips shown in the game’s first trailer.
Given Rockstar’s ambitious vision for Red Dead Redemption 2, we do not doubt that the region of Leonida will be just as rich and likely even larger than its cowboy counterpart. RDR2’s setting even changed over time throughout your playthrough, with the most obvious detail being buildings built and towns growing. Designing detailed and immersive worlds has always been one of Rockstar’s greatest strengths, so we’re excited to see what it looks like in action.
GTA 6 map
Fans have also been hard at work piecing the GTA 6 map of Leonida together following the original development leaks – something that’s only intensified after the release of the first official trailer. So far the possible GTA 6 map size calculation suggests that it could be twice as large as GTA 5’s Los Santos, which is certainly impressive.
These calculations used location coordinates from the leaked footage to determine a potential grid size for the map. Redditor ‘jumbo04’ says that their calculations estimate the GTA 6 map grid size to be over 200 square kilometers – although, as with most game maps, the overworld won’t fill every bit of this grid, so the actual playable space may be smaller than that 200 sq/km figure. For comparison, fan research found that the playable square footage of GTA 5’s map is just over 80 sq/km.
Not only that but according to a report from Kotaku, the map will be constantly expanded over time, with further increases in the size of the map as more content is added, not too dissimilar to a live-service game. This report does state that the map is “moderately sized”, but it does say this is still a large game by Rockstar Games’ standards.
This “expanded with regular updates” map also lines up with Tez2’s comments about the developers cutting out content for DLCs later down the line, as the same report adds that this “may help mitigate stress and crunch”.
We didn’t get any details on the actual map or what it looks like from above in those leaks either, as UI and images weren’t shown. But, this is a pretty good estimation. Given how big some of the best PS5 open-world games and best Xbox open-world games are today too, the size wouldn’t exactly come as a huge surprise.
Of course, these are estimations based on leaked footage of a game that’s still in development and snapshots of a 90-second trailer – take it with a grain of salt. We can only hope that, no matter how big the GTA 6 map is in reality, it maintains Rockstar’s incredibly high bar when it comes to detail and beautifully handcrafted environments.
Don’t expect GTA 6’s Vice City to exactly look like the original version of the city did. With more than two decades in between the iterations of the location, you will probably see a lot of differences when we finally get to see the game in action. But, we wouldn’t be surprised if there are some fun easter eggs or throwbacks too.
GTA 6 leaks
As mentioned, the biggest GTA 6 leak was the gameplay footage that was posted online in September 2022. This leak contained almost 100 clips of gameplay, which were stolen after Rockstar suffered a “network intrusion”. The leaked footage showed areas of the game’s map and some basic gameplay interactions, but the most interesting revelation was that there appeared to be both a male and female protagonist.
Of course, GTA 5 lets players switch between three main characters, but it’s now confirmed that GTA 6 will give us the series’ first playable female character. While she has been revealed as Lucia, we’re still relying on leaks that the male character is called Jason.
In a statement following the leaks, Rockstar said it was “disappointed” and confirmed the footage was legitimate. However, it also said that the leak would not have any negative “long-term effect on the development of any of our ongoing projects” and that it’s committed to making GTA 6 a game that “truly exceeds expectations”.
Latest GTA 6 news
On top of all the information above, here are some smaller smatterings of GTA 6 news that have emerged recently.
At the end of February, Rockstar sent an internal email to employees requesting that they return to full on-site working because GTA 6 was entering the ‘final stages’ of development. Rockstar said in the email that there were “tangible benefits” to office working, and that the decision was crucial in ensuring the quality of the game. Security concerns are also a big reason for the removal of remote work, as Rockstar wants to avoid any more major leaks or data breaches.
Two people that aren’t afraid of leaking info about GTA 6 are rappers T-Pain and ScHoolboy Q, which have both seemingly confirmed their involvement with the game. T-Pain seems to be working fairly closely with Rockstar, which makes sense given he’s one of the biggest Floridian artists ever. ScHoolboy Q, meanwhile, told a fan on social media that he was confident some of his music would feature in the game.
Another interesting flash of GTA 6 news came amid the leaks of the specs for the upcoming PS5 Pro console. The upgraded console was being largely touted as the dream machine to play GTA 6 on. However, the tech experts at Digital Foundry analysed the specs and concluded that it wouldn’t be enough to bump a game like GTA 6 up to 60fps. While there will certainly be differences between the experience on the Pro versus the standard PS5, they probably won’t be quite as big as many initially hoped.
There you have it, everything we know about the current state of Rockstar’s next open-world behemoth and when you can expect the GTA 6 release date. GTA 5 is on our list of the best games of all time, so let’s hope the sequel can join it once it finally releases. In the meantime, read up on double edged sword of GTA 5’s legacy and what it means for Rockstar and GTA 6. Otherwise, you can dig into the many new PS5 games and new Xbox games that are coming out before Grand Theft Auto 6.
In the lead-up to the GTA 6 release date, be sure to get your gaming setup ready by indulging in some of the best PS5 accessories and best Xbox accessories around. Considering how gorgeous the game already looks, look to match your console of choice with one of the best TV options to enjoy it in all its splendor.