Whelp, Grand Theft Auto VI isn’t coming out in 2025 after all. Many are shocked but not surprised. Big games often get delayed, though GTA VI is the biggest of them all and had executives promising it wouldn’t slip its fall launch as recently as February. It’s a terrible bait and switch for fans, but potentially a silver-lining for any other developer releasing a game this year.
With GTA VI now slated for May 2026, the second half of 2025 is wide open for other blockbuster releases like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Borderlands 4, Marathon, and Ghost of Yotei. The Game of the Year race just got wide open again as well, though I’m skeptical that GTA VI was ever a lock—it’s been so long since the last one that people often conflate the enduring popularity of GTA Online with the critical reception of the base game’s open-world story campaign.
Speaking of time, GTA V launched back in 2013. We’ve switched Presidents three times since then, gone one-and-a-half console generations, seen the release of nine additional Pokémon games, experienced four phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, watched the rise and fall of a whole new Star Wars trilogy, and endured an entire papacy. I lived in an apartment with three friends at the time. Now I have a mortgage and three kids, the oldest of which regularly watches YouTube videos of Sonic modded into GTA Online.
Here’s how everyone else is dealing with the news of GTA VI’s delay:
The GTA VI delay is welcome news tbh.
I’ve been saving $100 a month for the past 5 years so I can buy a new console and GTA VI at launch.
The delay means I’ll finally have the $7,000 needed to do that by May 2026!
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 2, 2025
GTA 6 is officially delayed to 2026
We are so cooked pic.twitter.com/wK1tND7Jq6
— Synth Potato🥔 (@SynthPotato) May 2, 2025
Broke people realising that they got another year to buy PS5 for GTA 6 pic.twitter.com/f9QlvJusK4
— Natsuki. (@twtZero_) May 2, 2025
Take-Two Interactive’s stock has dropped 16% in pre-market after Rockstar announced GTA6 is delayed to 2026 pic.twitter.com/wXquqIVBEE
— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) May 2, 2025
GTA VI got delayed out of 2025?
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sweep incoming at the Game Awards https://t.co/JJFao4hUWc pic.twitter.com/n4SrDNMR2N— Mischief (@MischiefsYT) May 2, 2025
past me knew lol https://t.co/pYLSZJ1EXY
— Parris (@vicious696) May 2, 2025
Harris lost. Chiefs lost. Lakers lost. Now Grand Theft Auto VI pushed back. pic.twitter.com/TaifQEASiS
— F**K Trump 🥸 (@welplookathim) May 2, 2025
May 2026 is going to be a crazy month
• May 1 – Avengers: Doomsday
• May 22 – The Mandalorian and Grogu
• May 26 – Grand Theft Auto VI pic.twitter.com/gFAfxUAiZr— Star Wars Holocron (@sw_holocron) May 2, 2025
Big week for Bucky https://t.co/9hNlZjDY1R pic.twitter.com/66ZZ2mJfpB
— Bucky | Palworld 🔜 BitSummit (@Bucky_cm) May 2, 2025
Who are the winners coming out of today? Nintendo for one. A Switch 2 with Mario Kart World just got that much more appealing now that the biggest game it won’t have isn’t going to be around for a while yet. A surprise reveal of a new 3D Mario along with Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 could help it dominate the holiday season. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Blue Prince, and Split Fiction all now seem like good bets for at least a GOTY nomination, though there’s still a lot of games to come this year.
Why did Rockstar Games ultimately decide to delay GTA VI so late in the cycle? Only those at the studio, and maybe Jason Schreier, know the answer to that. The team has waited this long to release a new entry in the series it makes complete sense to wait an extra six months than potentially ship with any outstanding performance concerns or crunch to meet an arbitrary deadline. Unfortunately for PC players, this means it might take that much longer for the game to get ported off consoles. Especially with the PlayStation 6 remastered editions just around the corner.
