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Early development
Development on GTA VI started around 2014, roughly a year after GTA V shipped in September 2013. Rockstar Games kept quiet about the project for years. No official acknowledgment came until 2022.
February 2022: official confirmation
On February 4, 2022, Rockstar posted a statement confirming that "active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series was well underway." This was the first time the company publicly acknowledged GTA VI's existence. No details about setting, characters, or release timing were included.
September 2022: the leak
On September 18, 2022, a user named "teapotuberhacker" published 90 videos totaling about 50 minutes of work-in-progress footage to GTAForums. The user was later identified as Arion Kurtaj, a member of the LAPSUS$ hacking group. The footage showed early builds of the game and confirmed several details that were previously just rumors: the Vice City setting, the two playable characters (Lucia and Jason), a scene of Lucia and Jason robbing a diner, and the interior of a strip club.
Journalists called it one of the biggest leaks in gaming history. The footage was clearly unfinished -- placeholder assets, debug text, incomplete animations -- but it showed enough to confirm the game's scope and direction.
Kurtaj had been arrested earlier as part of the LAPSUS$ investigation and was out on bail at the time of the leak. His laptop had been confiscated by police, so he carried out the hack using an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a hotel TV, and a phone. He was convicted in August 2023 and sentenced to an indefinite stay at a secure hospital.
December 2023: Trailer 1
On December 4, 2023, the first official trailer leaked on Twitter/X before Rockstar's planned release. Rockstar responded by publishing the trailer early. The trailer featured Tom Petty's 1989 track "Love Is a Long Road," which saw a roughly 37,000% spike in Spotify streams in the days that followed.
The numbers were staggering:
Over 90 million YouTube views in the first 24 hours
More than 120 million views within 72 hours
8.4 million likes on the YouTube upload
Over 270 million total views across platforms
The trailer announced a Fall 2025 release window and gave the public its first official look at modern-day Vice City, Lucia Caminos, and the tone Rockstar was going for.
May 2025: Trailer 2
On May 6, 2025, Rockstar released the second trailer alongside more than 70 screenshots and detailed character and location descriptions on the official website. The trailer was described in a Rockstar tweet as "captured entirely in-game from a PlayStation 5, comprised of equal parts gameplay and cutscenes."
Across all platforms, the trailer pulled in over 475 million views within 24 hours. The soundtrack featured several tracks that saw massive streaming spikes:
"Hot Together" by the Pointer Sisters -- 182,000% increase on Spotify
"Everybody Have Fun Tonight" by Wang Chung
"Child Support" by Zenglen -- a Haitian konpa track
"Talkin' to Myself Again" by Tammy Wynette
"Thunder Island" by Jay Ferguson
"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by The Arrows -- the original 1975 version, not the Joan Jett cover
Release date changes
The release date has moved twice since the initial announcement:
Fall 2025 (announced with Trailer 1, December 2023)
May 26, 2026 (first delay)
November 19, 2026 (second delay, current date)
When the second delay was announced, Rockstar issued a statement: "We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve."
Platforms
GTA VI launches on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. No PC release date has been announced. Rockstar's historical pattern with GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 suggests PC arrives 12 to 18 months after consoles, but nothing has been confirmed.
Marketing
Take-Two Interactive has stated the major marketing push begins in Summer 2026, ahead of the November launch. Given how the trailers have already broken records with minimal promotion, the full campaign is expected to be one of the largest in gaming history.