GTA 6 Leaker Backtracks On Previous Comments
Grand Theft Auto 6 may not be as close to completion as fans thought. An established Rockstar Games leaker revealed this week that the next installment in the action-adventure series is currently in development, but it won't be ready for quite some time. This contradicts a previous statement made by the same leaker, who said that GTA 6 was actually quite far in development.
Leaker Yan2295 wrote on Twitter that Rockstar Games is working on GTA 6, but "no, it's not coming soon." They went on to add that they "don't know when it's gonna be announced or released," and requested that people stop asking about it. While game development plans can certainly change in an instant, Yan2295's recent statement that GTA 6 is far from ready does directly contradict one of his tweets in 2020.
Last year, when Jason Schreier reported for Kotaku that GTA 6 was "still early in development," Yan2295 insisted that "despite what Jason said, there is absolutely no way GTA 6 is still in early stages." At the time, Yan2295 did not give any release windows, but went on to say in another tweet that it's "not possible" for GTA 6 to still be in early development. "Maybe early stages of testing, sure, but not of development," he said.
The truth is that Rockstar Games has remained tight-lipped about GTA 6 for some time, so all fans can do is discuss the rumors — and there have been plenty of GTA 6 rumors. As Tom's Guide pointed out, given the five-year development window for GTA 5, if GTA 6 follows the same pattern it could be released some time in late 2023. Of course, that's if Rockstar Games actually started development on the title back in 2018, immediately following Red Dead Redemption 2. A report from TechRadar previously stated that GTA 6 development may have actually started in 2016, which could lead to a release in 2022.
There was even a rumor that GTA 6 would arrive in 2020, which came and went with no news. The bottom line is that no one but Rockstar Games truly knows when GTA 6 will be released, but fans can only hope that it does come within the next few years.
What fans do know is why GTA 6 is taking so gosh darn long: it's a process that takes care and time. Grand Theft Auto 5 actor Shawn Fonteno defended Rockstar Games during a livestream in September 2020, where he talked about how difficult it can be to make a quality AAA game, especially in the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic. "Don't knock Rockstar down, man ... Ya'll gotta understand, man, it's a process to put these games out," Fonteno said. He later added, "Rockstar is a quality, high-end, top shelf type of business, man."