Despite what Trey Daubert would tell you, Grand Theft Auto V is an absolute masterpiece. Released in 2013, Rockstar had outdone themselves with GTA V. For me, GTA V is a top-five game all time. Between the incredible storyline, the great characters and the number of different things that you are able to do, it’s difficult not to love this game. This game is so good that fans have been begging for Grand Theft Auto VI since GTA V came out 8 years ago.
That being said, it’s been 8 years, and fans are getting restless waiting for Rockstar’s next masterpiece in the Grand Theft Auto series. Rockstar has been notoriously tight-lipped about the next installment of the series, leaving fans with a lot of questions. Unfortunately, it seems as though we’re still at least a few years out from even getting a sniff. After all, with the sustained success of Grand Theft Auto Online, why would Rockstar shift its attention to another major project? My guess is that Rockstar won’t start to talk openly about Grand Theft Auto VI until Grand Theft Auto Online’s popularity starts to decline significantly. On top of that, Red Dead Redemption 2 (and its accompanying online mode), another incredible Rockstar game, is still relatively popular after being released in 2018. Rockstar has become one of the most prolific developers in the industry, meaning that they don’t have to be in any real hurry to release more games, especially since both Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Redemption 2 are still relevant years after their respective releases.
What do we know about GTA VI?
Fans have had to rely completely on the rumour mill for their fix of Grand Theft Auto VI information. We don’t know anything for sure, but there are some pretty widely accepted rumours that we can be relatively certain about.
In terms of release date, there is some pretty strong evidence to suggest that we should expect a late 2023 to early 2024 release date. 2K, the company that publishes the GTA series, has updated its fiscal plans to accommodate a massive spending increase (almost doubling it from 2021 and 2022) on marketing in 2023. Now, what game could possibly warrant a doubled marketing budget? It seems that the most logical answer would be what should amount to the biggest release of the year: Grand Theft Auto VI.
In terms of setting, it seems that the most accepted theory is that GTA VI will take place in Vice City, Liberty City (GTA III’s beloved map), parts of Florida and parts of Mexico. The map is said to be bigger than GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 combined (which would be absolutely absurd, by the way). There are also rumours that San Andreas and the Midwest could be featured as well. As far as gameplay, there have been rumours that the story will feature four protagonists, one of them female, building off of the three-character system that was used in GTA V. The game is presumably going to surround the cocaine trade across the United States, the player being thrown into the world of international smuggling and distribution. Of course, the whole kingpin thing has already been tested out in Grand Theft Auto Online, where players are able to create their own drug empire. Apparently, Rockstar has been using GTA Online to test things out for GTA VI for a very long time. Vehicles, missions and gameplay features have all been tested in GTA Online as a way to see how they’d fit into the next instalment of the GTA series.
So, what do we really know about GTA VI? The short answer? We know nothing for sure. As I said before, it’s probably difficult to justify a new project of this magnitude when the old game is still doing so well. That means we are probably still far off from any kind of announcement, let alone a release. The above rumours are just that; rumours. None of that is confirmed, despite what the Reddit trolls will tell you. For now, we can only speculate.
Rest assured, as the self-proclaimed biggest GTA fanboy on the planet, you can bet that I will be all over any news that comes out about GTA VI. So, hopefully, more to come.
