It’s been a full decade since the last major entry in the Grand Theft Auto open-world video game series, but the wait may finally be over.
Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive told an investor call Wednesday that their plans for 2025 will set ‘new standards in our industry.’ And they boasted that Fiscal 2025 will see the game firm raking in ‘$8 billion in Net Bookings.’
Famously, GTA 5 won Rockstar over $6 billion in earnings — and these facts have fans and industry watchers speculating that GTA 6 could drop as soon as the 2024 holidays.
The new game is already projected to make $1.7 billion in sales, according to one analyst with Goldman Sachs.
Certainly, fans of the franchise have been thirsty for more GTA 6 rumors ever since an unprecedented leak last September spread dozens of videos and screenshots from a confirmed ‘in-development build’ of the game online.
Here’s what we know, and what we may only think we know, about GTA 6:
GTA 6 will return players to the series’ fictional version of Miami: Vice City. Fans desperate to further explore the world of the GTA franchise have taken to AI image generators like Midjourney to mock up possible locations and scenarios (above) for the new game
When is it really coming out?
Nearly every major title in the Grand Theft Auto series has dropped in the fall or winter just in time for the holiday season.
So, if Take-Two’s profit projections are to be taken as a clue, late 2024 is the closest that gamers can expect to get their hands on a copy of GTA 6.
But the sad fact is no one really knows for sure. Take-Two Interactive’s CEO Strauss Zelnick was quick to dispel rumors that their billion-dollar projections for 2025 were a confirmation of GTA 6’s release date.
‘We’re not talking about specific titles,’ the CEO told gamesindustry.biz.
But when the industry mag pressed him on whether or not their $8 billion target is even achievable without the tentpole release of a major title like Grand Theft Auto, Zelnick’s confidence left nothing to dissuade believers.
‘We believe it’s highly achievable,’ Zelnick said. ‘We have a high degree of confidence.
‘It’s a reflection of a pipeline we’ve been investing in for years. We’re beginning to see that come to fruition in Fiscal 24, and then in Fiscal 25, we expect to see some great successes.’
Whether that only relates to the broad roster of 36 titles that Take-Two currently has slated for 2025 and 2026 or if it heralds the impending launch of GTA 6, unfortunately, is still up for debate.
Where will the new game be set?
Given the September 2022 leaks, confirmed by Rockstar as authentic, players are guaranteed to be returning back to Vice City, Grand Theft Auto’s lightly fictionalized version of Miami.
Clips in the leak displayed numerous street signs and buildings identifying the location as ‘Vice City,’ as well as cop cars emblazoned with ‘VCPD’ indicating the city’s police department will figure into the narrative.
Unlike Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, set in 1986, players of GTA 6 will be experiencing the sun-drenched metropole’s criminal underworld in the modern day.
Screencaps from the leak show characters wielding smartphones and sporting modern clothes.
One character seen in the leaks appear to reference the murder of LifeInvader CEO Jay Norris, a character killed by Michael De Santa, one of the three protagonists in Grand Theft Auto V.
Grand Theft Auto 5, released in 2013, was not only the best-selling game of all time but even surpassed major Hollywood blockbusters like Star Wars or Gone With The Wind. Both films only collected about $3 billion, adjusted for inflation, compared to GTA 5’s $6 billion
Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive told an investor call Wednesday that their plans for 2025 will set ‘new standards in our industry’ — suggesting a ground-breaking release on par with the record-breaking, industry-setting release of GTA 5 in 2013
While modern day versions of familiar spots from GTA 5 appeared in the leaks, including the Malibu Club, Ocean View Hotel, Little Haiti, and Vice Beach, the game appears to include much wider terrain outside the city.
The leak depicted a few rural areas, including what looks like a swampy region reminiscent of the Florida Everglades.
How much will it cost?
To judge from the recent price points offered by Take-Two for its other top-shelf game titles: $70.
That’s how much Take-Two CEO Zelnick told reporters another of the company’s major franchise installments, NBA 2K21, would retail for in March 2021.
‘We announced a $70 price point for NBA 2K21, and our view was that we’re offering an array of extraordinary experiences, lots of replayability,’ Zelnick said that month at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telcom Conference.‘
‘And the last time there was a frontline price increase in the US was 2005-2006, so we think consumers are ready for it.’
That said, the rumor mill can’t stop speculating that a behemoth GTA 6, alleged to have exceeded a billion-dollar budget, might come with an eye-popping MSRP price tag somewhere between $80 to $100.
The game’s price point may have to be at those recording-breaking highs.
Rumors, sourced directly to the hacker responsible for September’s GTA 6 leaks, insist that the as-yet-unfinished game’s production budget has already surpassed $2 billion.
But Take-Two Interactive’s CEO Strauss Zelnick was quick to dispel rumors that their billion-dollar projections for 2025 were also a confirmation of GTA 6’s upcoming release date
What else can we expect?
Aside from theft and general law-breaking, gamers can expect new methods of gameplay mechanics, the return of the five-star ‘Wanted’ system, and the first-ever female protagonist in GTA’s history.
That latter news was confirmed in a July 2022 Bloomberg profile detailing the changing culture at Rockstar, but further details emerged from the development footage in the September leak.
As of the leak, the current names for GTA 6’s two playable characters are Jason and Lucia, and, as with GTA 5, players can alternate between playing them both.
One leaked video showed Vice City’s modern-day Bonnie and Clyde robbing a diner together. The test player was seen controlling one of the characters while the other served as an automated accomplice.
A second clip showed off the game’s character-swapping mechanic, which looks nearly instantaneous compared to the lumbering perspective shift seen in GTA 5.
The leaks also gave a flavor of the game’s new stealth game mechanics: the early footage appeared to depict these playable characters quietly crawling prone on their stomachs and discreetly attempting to move a body.
One favored returning feature looks to be the past installment’s five-star ‘Wanted’ system, but this time with enhanced AI operating Jason and Lucia’s law enforcement pursuers from VCPD.
