According to a new report from Kotaku’s Zack Zweizen, who cites sources with knowledge of the situation, Rockstar may be considering pushing back the release of Grand Theft Auto VI as far as 2026.
Of course, any release targets are still wholly internal with the game’s internet-breaking debut trailer that dropped last year only revealing a vague “2025” window, but the report from Kotaku claims that Rockstar’s management is concerned that development on the game is “falling behind,” which is seemingly one of the contributing factors in its recent return-to-office mandate.
Supposedly, Rockstar has been aiming for an “early 2025” launch for the game, but is prepared to move that to later in the year or even all the way back into 2026 as an emergency option.
The sudden shift back to office work five days a week has been criticised by some Rockstar employees, especially those who joined the company in a remote capacity. It was initially believed to be necessitated by security after numerous leaks of early working footage and the most recent trailer, but there’s a sense that lagging development has also contributed. An employee speaking to Aftermath said they were concerned they might see the return of Rockstar’s infamous crunch culture, which it had seemingly been taking steps to mitigate before now.
“We’re concerned about going back to that,” they told the outlet. “I’ve been through a couple of projects, both of which had crunch. The first one was extremely difficult. I had way less gray hair back then. … We want to continue the strides we’ve made as a company to remove that toxic culture.”
“Grand Theft Auto VI continues our efforts to push the limits of what’s possible in highly immersive, story-driven open-world experiences,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games when the company dropped its debut trailer in December of last year. “We’re thrilled to be able to share this new vision with players everywhere.”
“Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.”
