Grand Theft Auto 6: Potential Release Window, Leaks, Story, and Latest News

With over 185 million copies sold, Grand Theft Auto 5 is easily the best-selling full-priced game of all time and among the most successful entertainment releases across all mediums. To this day, GTA 5 ranks among the most played games on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, though 10 years on from its debut, fans are eager for a new addition to the Grand Theft Auto series.

In anticipation of Rockstar’s next open-world adventure, we’ve compiled this comprehensive overview of everything we know about Grand Theft Auto 6, including a potential release window, platforms, settings, gameplay, and more.

GTA 6 Potential Release Date

A release window for GTA 6 has not been announced. However, publisher Take-Two Interactive implied GTA 6 may be scheduled for the company’s 2025 fiscal year (April 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025). The implication is found in Take-Two’s latest yearly earnings report, which included a meteoric rise* in forecasted bookings for its fiscal year 2025 — a rise possibly explained by the anticipation of GTA 6.

*Take-Two projects over $8 billion USD in net bookings for fiscal year 2025 — a 50% increase over its previous record-high of $5.3 billion achieved during fiscal year 2023.

GTA 6 Platforms

GTA 6 will likely launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. A PC version is expected, though there’s no guarantee it’ll be available at launch; Rockstar’s two latest original releases — GTA 5 and Red Dead 2 — were released on PC at least a year after debuting on consoles. Switch, PS4, and Xbox One versions seem unlikely, though no official platform details have been confirmed.

GTA 6 Announcement

In February 2022 Rockstar officially confirmed the next Grand Theft Auto (presumably named GTA VI) was in development. Here’s the official announcement from Rockstar:

“With the unprecedented longevity of GTA V, we know many of you have been asking us about a new entry in the Grand Theft Auto series. With every new project we embark on, our goal is always to significantly move beyond what we have previously delivered — and we are pleased to confirm that active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well underway. We look forward to sharing more as soon as we are ready, so please stay tuned to the Rockstar Newswire for official details.

“On behalf of our entire team, we thank you all for your support and cannot wait to step into the future with you!”

GTA 6 Setting

Grand Theft Auto 6 will reportedly return to Vice City — the franchise’s stand-in for Miami. According to a 2022 Bloomberg report, Vice City is only the starting point, as Rockstar will purportedly add “new missions and cities on a regular basis.” It’s also said to include more interior locations than any previous GTA.

The report states GTA 6 is codenamed Project Americas, in reference to Rockstar’s rumored plan to originally include North and South American locations at launch. That plan, however, is said to have been scrapped to reduce crunch.

Adding to the reports of a return to Vice City is a potential tease found within the remastered version of GTA: San Andreas:

Another #GTATrilogy mystery hunt. The Lil’ Probe’Inn has an unidentified house amongst the UFO photo display… GTAVI? (jk) (or am I, where is this from?)

Credit to ArthurZussman, mussefar03 and mrcharhead for these images.

Discussion source: https://t.co/F4uXihZS9v pic.twitter.com/1iHP1jiQML

— Kirsty (@kirstycloud) November 16, 2021

GTA 6 Story, Protagonist(s)

Grand Theft Auto 6 will reportedly star two bank robbers in a Bonnie & Clyde-inspired story, according to the aforementioned Bloomberg report. The dual protagonists are possibly named Lucia and Jason, with Lucia potentially marking the first female playable character in GTA’s 3D era.

The report noted no further plot details, though it did mention a change in Rockstar’s philosophy around satire: The company is reportedly making an effort to write fewer jokes at the expense of marginalized groups.

GTA 6 Gameplay (Leak)

On September 18, 2022, Grand Theft Auto 6 was the subject of what may be the most significant video game leak of all time. A hacker gained access to Rockstar’s network and stole dozens of assets before uploading 90 GTA 6 videos online.

The in-development footage, which was verified by Rockstar, showed off parts of the game world, gunplay, and NPCs. It also seemingly confirmed GTA 6 will feature one male and one female protagonist. (Speaking of NPCs: Rockstar filed a patent in 2019 for more realistic and immersive NPC drivers. The technology, which may be used in GTA 6, allows AI drivers to “define [their] own specific characteristics for traversing the road nodes.”)

10 months after the leak, a British teenager was arrested for his involvement in a series of hacks, one of which is believed to be the origin of the big GTA 6 leak.

GTA 6 Developer

Grand Theft Auto 6 is being developed by Rockstar North, the studio responsible for every mainline GTA game since the franchise’s debut in 1997. Notably, in August, Rockstar began officially working with Cfx.re, the modding team behind the biggest GTA 5 roleplay servers. It’s unclear if the group will work on similar content for GTA 6.

Two staple developers of the Grand Theft Auto series left Rockstar in the years following GTA 5: Rockstar games co-founder/head writer Dan Houser and former Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies. Houser wrote on most of the Grand Theft Auto games from Grand Theft Auto 2 to Grand Theft Auto 5, while Benzies served as a series producer since Grand Theft Auto III.

Rockstar’s VP of writing Mike Unsworth has also left the company, though given the timing of his departure (August 2023), his work on GTA 6 may have been completed.

Jordan covers games, shows, and movies as a freelance writer for IGN.