Grand Theft Auto VI delayed until 2026, extending wait for highly anticipated game

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: May 02, 2025 1:07 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Take-Two Interactive on Friday pushed the merchandise of Grand Theft Auto VI to May 26, 2026, extending the hold for 1 of the most hotly anticipated titles in video-gaming past and sending its shares tumbling nine per cent in pre-market trading.

The title, developed by Rockstar Games, was previously slated for a autumn 2025 launch. The franchise is the crown jewel in Take-Two's portfolio, accounting for a important stock of revenue and subordinate engagement, and expectations for the upcoming title person been baked into Wall Street forecasts for months.

The crippled is expected to beryllium an instant hit, with billions of dollars successful income each year, according to respective analysts. The previous entry, Grand Theft Auto V, released successful 2013, has sold more than 200 cardinal copies, making it 1 of the best-selling video games of each time.

"We enactment afloat Rockstar Games taking further clip to realize their originative imaginativeness for Grand Theft Auto VI, which promises to beryllium a groundbreaking blockbuster entertainment experience," Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said.

Delays person go commonplace successful modern game development arsenic studios grapple with rising accumulation costs and growing unit from players to present polished experiences at launch.

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The hold present pushes the crippled retired of Take-Two's fiscal 2026 release model and into 2027, which volition apt bring down booking expectations for the adjacent fiscal year. The institution also reiterated its expectations for sequential increases successful net bookings for fiscal 2026 and 2027.

Despite the postponement, Take-Two has a fig of titles lined up for the adjacent fiscal year, including Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country, which are expected to beryllium large launches in their ain right.

"Given that Take-Two reiterated expectations of record level nett bookings successful some FY [financial year] '26 and FY '27, we deliberation this alleviates immoderate of the imaginable concerns astir sales cannibalization successful FY '26," D.A. Davidson & Co. expert Wyatt Swanson said.

Rockstar Games unveiled the archetypal trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI successful December 2023, acceptable to Tom Petty's Love Is a Long Road.

The teaser confirmed the game's instrumentality to Vice City, a fictional instrumentality connected Miami, and introduced Lucia, the franchise's first pistillate lead. It hinted astatine a modern-day Bonnie-and-Clyde duo and drew much than 100 cardinal views wrong 24 hours.

The game was besides expected to beryllium a large operator of overall video crippled manufacture maturation this twelvemonth aft the marketplace underwent a downturn pursuing pandemic highs.

The hold besides comes amid a play of economical uncertainty in the manufacture arsenic sweeping U.S. tariffs person led to a surge in gaming console prices and a pullback successful user spending, denting income prospects for galore crippled publishers.