How long has Rockstar been working on GTA 6? A timeline

It's no secret that GTA 6 is almost certainly going to be one of the biggest releases in recent gaming history, if not the biggest. Since the fifth game in Rockstar's monstrously lucrative Grand Theft Auto series released back in 2013, many eagerly anticipate the next installment.

We know the studio has been working on it for what feels like an eternity. We've had dribs and drabs of official details, many, many rumors, and a teaser trailer that quickly became one of the most watched videos on YouTube. In short: we're very much ready for the next game.

https://youtu.be/QdBZY2fkU-0

But how long has Rockstar actually been working on GTA 6? In order to impart some idea of how long it's been in development, I've put together a brief timeline, showing some of the bigger announcements. I think we can all agree, though, that it's been in the pipeline for a ridiculously long time.

GTA 6 timeline

• 2014 - Development on GTA 6 begins, about a year after Grand Theft Auto 5 released.






• February 4, 2022 - About eight years into development, Rockstar posts a community update, in which it's confirmed that "active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well underway."






• July 2, 2022 - A few months later, another post on the Rockstar Games website says the team has been "steadily moving more development resources" towards GTA 6. This was also around the time the studio said it was changing how it supported Red Dead Online.






• July 27, 2022 - A report from Bloomberg (paywall) confirmed that GTA 6 would have a female protagonist, the first time this had been the case in the franchise's 25-year history.






• August 8, 2022 - GTA 5 reaches a sales milestone of 170 million units as parent company Take-Two Interactive restates that the next entry in the series was well into development, as noted in this conference call.






• September 18 & September 19, 2022 - The big GTA 6 leaks happen, in which early footage from the game is leaked to the public, showcasing the work the studio has put into it thus far. A day later, Rockstar confirms the development footage was the result of a "network intrusion."






• November 8, 2023 - The developer sends out a message, announcing that the first official Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer will release in December of that year. The game had been in development for almost a decade at this point.






• December 4, 2023 - Surprise! The trailer is leaked just 15 hours before it was supposed to. According to YouTube, it racked up 93 million views in 24 hours.






• December 5, 2023 - Rockstar launches the Grand Theft Auto 6 website.






• February 28, 2024 - The studio asks staff to return to the office as GTA 6 enters the "final stretch of development." A release date feels imminent at this point.






• May 16, 2024 - Take-Two Interactive confirms a release date of "Autumn 2025," as noted in a report from Variety.






• February 10, 2025 - CEO of Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, neither confirms nor denies whether GTA 6 will come to PC.

That, believe it or not, appears to bring us up to date. At the time of writing, there doesn't appear to be much more in the way of official news concerning the next Grand Theft Auto game, outside Zelnick's comments about an elusive PC port.

Anything else I add to this would merely be speculation. As of right now, GTA 6 has been in development for about 11 years and as you can see, there’s been surprisingly little information we've been privy to. Will it actually live up to expectations or outshine the legacy Grand Theft Auto 5 has left behind? Only time will tell.

The post How long has Rockstar been working on GTA 6? A timeline appeared first on Destructoid.

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