After years of anticipation, conspiracy theories and rumors, the release window for the acclaimed Grand Theft Auto franchise’s sixth installment has finally been narrowed down.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is officially slated to drop in Fall 2025 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles.
The confirmation came straight from Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games’ parent company, during its fiscal year 2024 earnings call. Take-Two’s chief executive officer, Strauss Zelnick himself, doubled down on the Fall 2025 target, stating they feel “highly confident” they’ll deliver the hotly-awaited sequel within that window.
This narrows down the previously announced 2025 launch to just a few months at the end of next year, which is a bit further away than we had hoped. If Rockstar Games can hit that mark, it will culminate in one of the most drawn-out and hype-driven release cycles in gaming history.
To recap how we got here, the madness began in earnest last December when Rockstar released the first official GTA 6 trailer. Clocking in at over 93 million views in just 24 hours, it instantly attained status as the most-viewed game trailer premiere ever on YouTube. As of today, it has amassed an incredible 190 million views and counting.
The two-and-a-half-minute trailer was a tantalizing tease, confirming the return of the franchise’s beloved Vice City setting (a fictionalized version of Miami) and introducing players to the game’s dual protagonists for the first time: Lucia, a female lead for the series, and her male counterpart, Jason.
While plot details are still under wraps, the footage hinted at over-the-top action, dark themes, and the kind of anti-hero storytelling that has defined the Grand Theft Auto franchise since its origins in the late 1990s.
Of course, with such a massively anticipated release, speculation has run rampant about potential delays, pushing GTA 6‘s launch into 2026 or beyond. Zelnick sought to put those rumors to rest, though he stopped short of outright guaranteeing the Fall 2025 target – which, even then, is more than a year and a half away.
Rockstar has also remained mum on when the game will make its eventual debut on PC, a platform whose users have grown accustomed to painful delays following console releases for previous GTA titles. The smart money is on PC gamers having to exercise even more patience this time around.
Regardless of platform, Take-Two is projecting earth-shattering revenues in the $5.5 to $5.65 billion range for fiscal 2025 off the back of GTA 6 sales. To be fair, the hype surrounding the upcoming title justifies such projections, and historically, Rockstar has proved to be a sales juggernaut in the gaming industry.
With nearly 11 years having passed since GTA 5 was released, the stage is set for Rockstar to once again redefine the open-world crime gaming experience in characteristically grandiose fashion. All signs point to a new Grand Theft Auto for the ages just around the corner to keep our consoles running and leave us broke.