GTA 6 Release Delayed Again, Now Launching in 2026

Okay so, big sigh first—GTA 6 release delayed. Again. Yeah, not even kidding. If you were counting down the days to Fall 2025, just… stop. Rockstar Games came out and crushed all our dreams (again) by officially announcing that Grand Theft Auto 6 is now dropping on May 26, 2026. That’s right. Next year. Not this fall. Not this winter. Not even early spring. Nope—May. Twenty. Freaking. Twenty-six.

And let’s be real, were we actually surprised? Kinda? Maybe a little. But also… not really. Because let’s face it, this game has been cooking for over a decade now. Like, what are they even still doing to it?

Rockstar made the announcement Friday and did their usual “we’re super sorry, we love you, thanks for waiting” type of statement. You know, the one that’s supposed to soften the blow but still hits like a brick to the face if you’ve been riding the hype train since 2013.

“We are very sorry that this is later than you expected,” they said.
“The interest and excitement surrounding a new Grand Theft Auto has been truly humbling for our entire team…”

Cool. Cool cool cool. But like… where’s the game, bro?

From 2013 to 2026—What Are We Even Doing?

Alright, so for the folks keeping track at home, GTA 5 dropped in September 2013. That’s 12 whole years ago. That’s one high school + college degree + 3 years of work. Wild. Some fans were literally in middle school back then, and now they’re pushing 30.

Just let that math slap you in the face for a sec.

The crazy part? We’ve known GTA 6 has been in development since 2014. That’s over a decade of dev time. People are asking, “How is this game still not done?” And honestly, same. Someone on X (formerly Twitter, but yeah we still call it Twitter) said:

“What could possibly be delaying a game that has been worked on for a decade?”

And yeah, we wanna know too. Like… did they build it and then delete it by mistake? Did someone forget to hit save?

The trailer came out almost two years ago, so we’ve been chewing on the same 90 seconds of footage like it’s the last cracker in the pantry. And now we gotta wait a whole extra year? That’s criminal.

And the fan reactions? Gold. One person was like:

“Imagine being 14 in middle school playing GTA 5, and now you’ll be 28 when GTA 6 come out… if this isn’t ridiculous I don’t know what is.”

Another said:

“I’m going to be a grandfather by the time GTA 6 comes out. I currently have no kids.”

Iconic. Honestly, the memes and sarcasm are keeping us alive at this point. One person summed it up perfectly:

“Disappointed but not surprised.”

Same, internet stranger. Same.

What We Do Know About GTA 6 (So Far)

Now, let’s talk about what we actually know about the game. Rockstar says GTA 6 will feature its first-ever female lead—her name’s Lucia, and yes, she looks like she’s not here to play. In the trailer, we see her in a prison uniform, possibly chatting with a parole officer. Intrigue? High. Vibes? Criminal. We love it.

The game also returns to Vice City—you remember, that neon-soaked, Miami-inspired chaos zone from the early 2000s. GTA: Vice City came out in 2002, and it’s been a fan favorite ever since. So yeah, that location comeback is kinda hype.

Oh, and apparently the story might be loosely inspired by Bonnie and Clyde, according to someone in the know. So maybe expect crime-couple energy, wild heists, and a lot of messy drama. Sounds like peak GTA.

But seriously, this isn’t just some spin-off. This is the sixth mainline game in a franchise that’s basically a cultural juggernaut at this point. And Rockstar says they’re aiming to “exceed expectations,” which—cool, but let’s hope all this delay means they actually do that.

Here’s a quick history crash course, if you wanna cry a little more:

GTA 1 dropped on PC in 1997, then PlayStation that December.
GTA 2 came out in 1999.
GTA 3? Game-changer. Released in 2001.
GTA 4 hit us in 2008.
And GTA 5 exploded in 2013, becoming Rockstar’s biggest success ever.

Over 200 million copies sold worldwide. That’s… a lot of crime. And a lot of waiting.

So What’s Next?So now what? We wait. Again. And try to keep the hype alive without burning out completely. Rockstar says the delay is so they can make sure the game hits that high quality mark we all expect—and honestly, we get it. We don’t want a buggy mess. But man, this is a long time to wait for perfection.

Their exact words?

“We hope you understand that we need this extra time to deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve.”

Okay, fair. But still ouch.

So yeah, the GTA 6 Release Delayed news is a blow, no doubt. It’s the kind of delay that makes you want to uninstall every other game out of spite. But hopefully, hopefully this means GTA 6 really will be the next-level experience we’ve all been dreaming about since Trevor flew a plane into a building 12 years ago.

In the meantime, guess we’ll all just keep rewatching the trailer, scrolling memes, and calculating how old we’ll be when it finally drops. Spoiler alert: probably older than we wanna admit.