Grand Theft Auto 6 was delayed twice before confirming its current release date of November 19, 2026. Although Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said he is “very confident” in the release date, fans are anxious about the possibility of a third delay for Grand Theft Auto 6, given the scale of the project and the lack of new updates from developer Rockstar Games. However, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier said that GTA 6 is not as complete as he last heard and may be delayed again, but added that the new release date feels more “real” and “reliable.”
Speaking on the latest episode of Ringer-Verse’s Button Mash podcast, Schreier talked about the development status of GTA 6 and the possibility of another delay. A reporter from Bloomberg compared the release schedule for Rockstar’s next game to its previous game, Red Dead Redemption 2.
Rockstar Games originally announced that Red Dead Redemption 2 would be released in the fall of 2017, but later postponed it to the spring of 2018. The Western action-adventure game was delayed again to the fall window, eventually releasing on October 26, 2028. Schreier said he wouldn’t be “super shocked” if the same thing happened with Grand Theft Auto 6.
The first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 was released on December 3, 2023, confirming a 2025 release window. Later, Take-Two Interactive confirmed that GTA 6 is targeting a fall 2025 release. In May 2025, Rockstar publicly delayed the game for the first time, pushing the release date to May 26, 2026. Six months later in November, the studio delayed GTA 6 again, setting the game’s current release date as November 19, 2026.
Marked by the delay and eventual release of Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA 6 should launch later this year without any further major delays.
GTA 6 is still not “complete”
However, Schreier said on the podcast that based on the last news he heard, the game isn’t finished yet. “This time around, it’s a big, complex game that, last I heard, was still incomplete. That said, people are still finishing work, still hammering out levels and missions and seeing what’s going to be included in the game,” he said.
“Typically, the way game development works is, your features are done, your content is done, your bug testing phase is done, and there’s a lot of lines that get blurred in all these different phases. But they’re still making stuff, and we’re hoping to have it done soon, and there’s plenty of time to fix bugs. But even in these phases, there’s always someone who wants to sneak something in at the last minute,” he added.
However, Schreier stressed that GTA 6’s new release date of November 19, 2026 feels more “real” and “reliable” than the fall 2025 release window or even the previous May 26 release date.
GTA 6 will release its second trailer on May 6, 2025
Image source: Rockstar Games
Rock stars pursue “perfection”
The Bloomberg reporter further stated that the stakes related to GTA 6 are so high that Rockstar and its parent company Take-Two won’t settle for releasing anything less than “perfect” – “Take-Two’s stock lives and dies on this game. Every time the game goes down, I should say, their stock price goes down 10%. So, yeah, they’re not going to release this game in any compromised state. So, even at 10 month, they’ll also say, ‘I know, the game isn’t 100% ready yet,’ and I suspect they’d rather sneak it out than release it.”
The last time Rockstar Games delayed GTA 6, the studio said the additional development time would allow it to further refine the game and release it at the level of quality people have come to expect from a GTA release.
“We would like to thank you again for your patience and support. Although the wait has been a little long, we are very excited about the player experience,” the developers said in the update.
After the second delay, Take-Two boss Zelnick said he was “very confident” in the new release date.
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