With Rockstar Games and Take-Two reportedly unable to keep up with the pace of the publisher’s next blockbuster game, rumors are already swirling that the next Grand Theft Auto may be delayed.

After years of speculation, rumors and leaks, Rockstar and Take-Two released the first teaser video for Grand Theft Auto VI in December (and it leaked early). At the time, the release window was listed as 2025, but it’s best not to get your hopes up: Kotaku reported that while Rockstar is planning to release the new GTA in early 2025, development is not progressing well, so not only could the launch be delayed to late 2025, but it could even be early 2026 before Grand Theft Auto VI is released.

A delay to 2026 is only an option in case of an emergency, but life is unpredictable, so it could happen. However, no PR change is planned for Grand Theft Auto VI, but the company says that the release date, for example, is usually decided at the last minute. To speed up development, Rockstar is sending everyone back to the office for “security and quality assurance reasons” (which will no doubt only benefit busy executives), but some employees fear that this could be a return to Rockstar’s development crunch, where employees worked more than 80 hours a week to finish Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. Their fears may be justified: if you work from home, you are less likely to fall into that trap.

Grand Theft Auto VI is being developed for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox series, and knowing Take-Two, it will only be available on these two consoles for up to a full year, and only then will the port reach the PC, as there was a significant delay between the console and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Source: WCCFTech, Kotaku