Rockstar Games has confirmed that its next project will not take another eight years to release, as the studio builds on the foundation laid by GTA 6. The announcement comes from Phil Hooker, head of development at Rockstar Games, speaking to Bloomberg.
Building on GTA 6's foundation
Hooker said the engine, tools, and team developed for GTA 6 will allow the studio to work more quickly in the future. 'The engine, the tools, and the team we've built during this project will allow us to do things more quickly,' he said. 'I feel confident that we can build on top of this and go more sideways than upwards to build more compelling content.'
The comments leave unclear whether Rockstar is referring to an expansion of GTA 6 or a different game entirely. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier noted that one comparison might be the transition from GTA 3 to GTA: Vice City, which reused the same engine and assets less than a year after GTA 3's release. This suggests Rockstar could be planning a standalone title or DLC built on GTA 6's engine, rather than a full sequel.
Why GTA 6 was delayed
Rockstar North co-studio head Aaron Garbut added: 'We foundationally changed a lot of stuff on this project. But now it's done, and we're not going to rip it apart.'
The report also sheds light on GTA 6's delays. Originally slated for 2025, the game was pushed to May 2026 and then to November 19, 2026. Studio director Jennifer Kolbe recalled Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick's reaction to the second delay: 'I think he said, 'You're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding.' But once we talked through why, he got it. And I think we are really lucky that he is as reasonable as he is, because a lot of people would say, 'You'd just better figure out how to ship it.' And we have been really, really lucky that we have not found ourselves in that place, because that happens to a lot of teams, and we've all played those games. It's not great.'
One reason for the delay was the number of non-playable characters the team needed to write and animate, which proved unfeasible within the timeframe. In response, Rockstar set up a studio in Los Angeles dedicated solely to creating NPCs. Hooker said, 'I think when it became apparent that some areas weren't going to make it, that's when we decided to make the shift of date. We could hit that schedule, but it won't be the game we want to make.'
GTA 6 is set to launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19, 2026, with a PC version reportedly expected in early 2027.
