Grand Theft Auto fans have been given hope that rumors that the GTA 6 release date has been delayed to 2026 are not true. The rumors surfaced back on September 8, and were quickly contested by other sources as untrue. Right now, Grand Theft Auto fans are in limbo, not sure whether to continue to anticipate a release in 2025 or prepare themselves to wait an extra year. Sensing this, and jumping in on the conversation, a former Rockstar Games developer has revealed why they don’t think the game has been delayed, at least not yet.
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Over on social media platform X, Obbe Vermeij — a former Rockstar Games developer that was there when the studio made and shipped GTA 3, GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas, and GTA 4 — shared their thoughts on the rumored delay, revealing why they don’t think it is true. To this end, Vermeij cited their experience of going through the delay of GTA 4, noting the game wasn’t delayed until about four months before the original release date. Why is this relevant? Well the rumors that claimed a 2026 delay cited sources within Rockstar Games, aka developers on the game.
Continuing, the former Rockstar Games developer notes it would be hard for Rockstar Games to make a call on a delay this far away from the proposed release date, noting it is unlikely they’d be in a position to make this call until at least spring 2025.
“The decision to delay GTA IV was made four months or so before the original release date. Any further and it’s hard to make the call. Rockstar is probably not in a position to determine whether they will hit 2025 until May-ish,” said the former developer.
Of course, this is not a perfect barometer, but it is an interesting insight and does raise a pertinent question: how does Rockstar Games know it isn’t going to hit its 2025 date? This seems like an early call unless there was never any intention to hit this date in the first place, which is possible, but there is currently no reason to believe this. What seems more possible is there growing concerns the 2025 date is not attainable, but this different than a definitive decision.
At the moment of publishing, Rockstar Games has stayed silent amid all the rumors and speculation. We don’t suspect this to change, but if it does, we will be sure to update the story accordingly.
