In terms of high-profile gaming delays, Take-Two and Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto VI is perhaps the biggest modern example, initially slated for fall 2025 before a series of delays pushed its release to 19 November 2026. Despite this, new reports have surfaced suggesting that it was initially planned for release much earlier, in Spring 2025.
Speaking to David Senra during an interview, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick explained that the much-anticipated title was “about 18 months behind the original date… not much more than that.” This suggests that the original plan was to launch Grand Theft Auto VI in spring last year, even though this was never publicly announced.
If Zelnick’s calculations are correct, this would mean that the game is significantly behind schedule, although one can’t fault the studio for taking its time considering how expensive it was to develop. According to a recent report by Business Insider, Take-Two has spent close to US$1.5 billion on Grand Theft Auto VI, which far exceeds the usual video game budgets by today’s standards.
With a game on such a massive scale as Grand Theft Auto VI, it also makes sense for the studio to delay the title if it deems it unready for launch, as we’ve seen how studios rushing to push out a title can lead to disaster or even a loss of faith among its fanbase, such as CD Projekt RED’s infamous Cyberpunk 2077 launch, which saw the title release in a disastrous state in 2020, leading to the studio kicking into damage control mode and finally patching it to an acceptable state over the following years.
That being said, Zelnick does sound pretty confident in Grand Theft Auto VI’s November launch, explaining that the game’s marketing will begin in Summer 2026, so perhaps fans will finally get their first proper glimpse at its actual gameplay, which surprisingly has yet to be revealed.
Will we finally get our hands on Grand Theft Auto VI on 19 November, or will it end up on another “most anticipated games” list yet again? Only time will tell, but one thing’s for sure, it’s probably going to be the biggest gaming launch of the modern age, if and when it comes out.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
