Open world crime blockbuster Grand Theft Auto 6 has been delayed until next year, say Rockstar, telling fans that they “need this extra time to deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve”. It’s not the biggest surprise – delays happen. But it’s a slightly embarrassing announcement given that Strauss Zelnick, big boss of publisher Take-Two, has twice publicly reassured investors that the game would release on time in autumn this year. The announcement comes with some sense of relief, however, as Rockstar have now set a firm date in Spring.
“Grand Theft Auto VI is now set to release on May 26, 2026,” say the studio in a post on their website. “We are very sorry that this is later than you expected. The interest and excitement surrounding a new Grand Theft Auto has been truly humbling for our entire team.”
It’s the first time the developers have set a concrete day for the game’s release. Previously they had only revealed a broad release window sometime this autumn – a vagueness that was causing some consternation in the industry, as various big games played release date chicken in an effort to avoid the ultraviolent giant. At least now other studios may breathe easy and make solid plans for their own games to release this autumn and winter.
Delays are normal in the industry, and the result is often a more polished game. We already knew as far back as March last year that Rockstar was considering a long delay as a “fallback plan”, thanks to a report by Kotaku. So this was always a possibility. Jason Schreier of Bloomberg claims it was inevitable, according to his own sources at Rockstar.
Yet the delay is notable for being at odds with the publisher’s past statements. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, made various confident nods to money folks in shareholder conference calls, intimating that the game’s upcoming release wouldn’t slip. The boss was supposedly “highly confident” about the game’s previous release window, according to his words in a meeting in 2024. Earlier this year, in another money-minded call, he repeated those reassurances. Later, Zelnick said that the company was staying quiet on an exact release date to build “anticipation”.
“We support fully Rockstar Games taking additional time to realize their creative vision for Grand Theft Auto VI,” said Zelnick in a statement released today by Take-Two. “While we take the movement of our titles seriously and appreciate the vast and deep global anticipation for Grand Theft Auto VI, we remain steadfast in our commitment to excellence… we expect to deliver a multi-year period of growth in our business and enhanced value for our shareholders.”
Uh-huh. Anyway, there’s still no PC release date for the game, sorry to say. And we only really have that one trailer to go off so far. That might change this summer, as we in the press traipse slowly toward the territory of the Summer Games Fest, where we will be hacking down game announcement after game announcement with a machete of words in a dense jungle of trailers. The moment we spot a big video from Rockstar, we’ll send word.