GTA 6 hasn’t been in development for as long as we imagined

GTA VI apparently began development a long, long time ago, but it's not the decade-plus that you're likely imagining.

I’m sure we all felt the hit when GTA VI got delayed to May 2026 but let’s be real, it was the best move Rockstar Games could have made, and at least we got a second trailer out of it too.

And what a trailer it was, with Rockstar itself confirming it to be a mix of cutscenes and gameplay, all captured on a base PlayStation 5.

A lot of time has been sunk into the next Grand Theft Auto game and it shows, but the development cycle is actually shorter than many fans have assumed.

According to an ex-Rockstar developer, work on the game began in 2018, before even Red Dead Redemption 2 came out suggesting development started as the final touches were being made on the Wild West prequel.

Some assumed development began after GTA V was released over a decade ago.

This is actually pretty exciting for a few reasons, the biggest being that by the time GTA VI does come out next May, chances are Rockstar will have already begun work on its next open-world title, whatever that may be.

Perhaps it’ll be GTA VII, another entry/spin-off in the Red Dead Redemption franchise, or maybe a revisit to one of its other IPs, but something will be entering production surely.

Also it’s been claimed that a GTA IV remaster has been in the works for a while, so now that GTA VI has given up its fall 2025 release window, maybe we can expect to see that drop instead to fill the void.

The wait for GTA VI has been a long one, no doubt, but from what we’ve seen so far, it’s clearly going to be worth it, and that’s before we’ve seen some proper open-world gameplay; waiting a little more won’t hurt anyone.