"Rockstar Employees Did Not Believe Fall 2025 Was Achievable": Grand Theft Auto 6's Delay Was Inevitable

Summary

• Grand Theft Auto 6's delay was inevitable, according to our own sources and those of Bloomberg's Jason Schreier.
• Nobody at Rockstar believed the game would be in a releasable state by Fall 2025.
• The management at Rockstar was adamant about avoiding a crunch, sparking the delay announcement.

Grand Theft Auto 6 has officially been delayed from its initial Fall 2025 release window to May 2026. Rockstar announced this delay in a post on X (formerly Twitter), "With every game we have released, the goal has always been to try and exceed your expectations, and Grand Theft Auto 6 is no exception. We hope you understand that we need this extra time to deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve."

Ironically, we now have a more specific release date than we did before the delay was announced. We now have a specific month of release, rather than a nebulous three-month period in 2025's third quarter.

Too Much Work, Too Little Time

Nobody I’ve talked to at Rockstar has believed Fall 2025 was a real window for a very long time now. Too much work, not enough time, and what appears to be a real desire from management to avoid brutal crunch. GTA VI slipping to 2026 has seemed inevitable for months if not longer — Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) 2025-05-02T11:40:06.661Z

Although Rockstar is known for delaying the releases of its games, there's always a forlorn hope that the next release will be different. However, according to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, those within Rockstar had felt a delay was coming for months now.

"Nobody I've talked to at Rockstar has believed Fall 2025 was a real window for a very long time now," Schreier writes. "Too much work, not enough time, and what appears to be a real desire from management to avoid brutal crunch. GTA 6 slipping to 2026 has seemed inevitable for months if not longer."

TheGamer's sources can corroborate Schreier's reporting. Over the last few months, there was little to no belief within Rockstar that Fall 2025 was an achievable release window.

Although millions of people are likely disappointed by the delay, it's heartening to see that one of the reasons Grand Theft Auto 6 was delayed is that management wanted to avoid a crunch. This was not the prevailing attitude in the industry a decade ago, and is almost certainly a sign of a changing culture regarding crunch.

Grand Theft Auto 6 hasn't received any promotional material since its first trailer was released in December 2023. It seems unlikely Rockstar will release a trailer so soon after confirming a delay, but Rockstar hasn't ever had a traditional marketing approach.

Grand Theft Auto 6

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