GTA 6 Third Delay Still Feared As Gamers Say Launch Date Is 'Cope' By Rockstar

Here we go again, Grand Theft Auto VI could still get delayed despite Take-Two Interactive being confident in its current launch date.

We’re getting tantalising close to that 19 November release date but in the video game industry, anything can happen.

Marketing for GTA VI is expected to start later this Summer which still makes us chuckle, because why on Earth would you need to market the next Grand Theft Auto game? Rockstar Games could sell game-keys in cardboard boxes and gamers will still be lining up down the street for theirs.

Nevertheless we’re expecting the marketing campaign to kick-off relatively soon, but fans are theorising that it could have started sooner if Rockstar was actually convinced the game is launching this year. That’s right, those third delays fears are back in force.

“The ‘shorter marketing strategy’ is a cope for R* to delay the game” said Grand Theft Auto fan used_33 on Reddit.

Their post went on to say “It buys them time and an excuse to delay the game if they need to. That way they won't have to start 6 months before with trailers, screenshots, info, then suddenly delay it 3 months before because it needs more time, and restart the marketing all over again.

“They will start to market only when they're 100% sure it will be released, until then, a delay is always possible.”

Now you could argue this as pessimism or fear-mongering but in reality it’s spot-on. Take-Two Interactive’s CEO Strauss Zelnick has indeed implied confidence in that 19 November release date but nothing is ever set in stone.

Recent entries for Rockstar Games on the company review site Glassdoor also imply a huge amount of time-crunch for the current team.

Previous employees have spoken at length about the insurmountable pressure placed on the developers to meet those deadlines and for a game as theoretically large as GTA VI there’s a lot of work to do.

The team will no doubt be working on the game right up to the day of release and many months after.

Despite Take-Two’s confidence in the current launch window, if Rockstar Games says it needs more time, it will get it.

The game’s too important to rush and titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and No Man’s Sky are the only case studies you need to see what impact overhype and poor delivery can have on a game. Even Grand Theft Auto isn’t immune to disappointment and refunds en masse should it fail to function.

That shorter marketing window is the smartest move both Rockstar and Take-Two could make given the uncertainty, and will take the sting out of any more potential delays.

Given what we’ve heard though GTA VI’s 19 November release date is safe and secure, for now. What the next Grand Theft Auto game does need to worry about, however, is Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Remastered and Barbie Rewind…

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