A few days ago, Rockstar Games announced the postponement of GTA6. Expected for fall 2025, the game was finally delayed to May 26, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
This evening, Take Two Interactive, Rockstar's parent company, held its traditional fiscal review. During the latter, we learned that GTA5 had just sold 215 million games, that the Red Dead saga had just reached 100 million, and we learned a lot about the development (and postponement) of GTA6.
GTA 6: More than a billion dollars of development budget
Let's start with the completely crazy news: the raw development of GTA 6 (game development, without marketing) will cost Take Two Interactive around a billion dollars. This makes it, no more and no less, the most expensive video game and cultural product in the history of entertainment.
And the worst part? There's a good chance this crazy investment will be profitable in less than 48 hours. Because yes, in 2013, GTA V brought in no less than a billion dollars in three days. Today, Rockstar's game has grossed more than $10 billion since its release on September 17, 2013. Suffice it to say, there's nothing to worry about for Rockstar Games, Take Two Interactive, and GTA6.
Still on the development side, we learned that active development of the game began in 2020. Strauss Zelnick confirmed that development began in 2018, just after the release of Red Dead Redemption II. We can imagine that pre-production began even earlier. So, to date, GTA 6 would be eight years in development. Which is, again, completely crazy.
Remember, just three months ago, in February 2025, Strauss Zelnick gave an interview to IGN. In it, he strongly emphasized that he was very confident with Rockstar Games for a release of GTA 6 in the fall of 2025. As luck would have it, three months later, things have changed. Today, the game is expected to be released on May 26, 2026.
It was during a new interview on IGN that Strauss Zelnick came back to all this. According to him, this decision was made only a few weeks ago, since it seemed certain that the teams would need more time:
So, our colleagues at IGN naturally asked him if, this time, they were certain that the May 26, 2026 date would be respected. And, for his part, Strauss Zelnick is once again very confident.
It would therefore seem that this time, the date of May 26, 2026 is certain. Although, as the specialized media Rockstar Mag’ points out, in recent years, two Rockstar Games have had a specific release date and have still been postponed. First, GTA 4 (which was scheduled for October 19, 2007 and was postponed to April 29, 2008). Then, in a second phase, Red Dead Redemption (expected for April 27, 2010 and postponed to May 21, 2010).
Moreover, a few days ago, a Bloomberg report already mentioned the possibility that GTA 6 could be postponed again and that the date of May 26, 2026 was "not at all certain".
Let's end on a positive note, since during the fiscal update with investors earlier in the evening, Strauss Zelnick made it clear that GTA 6 was the most complex video game ever made to date. And that it will be a new feat on the part of Rockstar Games:
GTA 6 will therefore be the most expensive cultural product in history, the most complex video game ever made and should exceed players' expectations. It's promising, it's tempting, and we'll now have to wait a little over a year to see it for ourselves. See you on May 26, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
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