If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Grand Theft Auto VI release date: When GTA 6 will come out for the PS5 and Xbox consoles

GTA VI is going to be the biggest game of the year no matter when it comes out, so 2026 seems as good as any.

GTA VI Driving — Image credit: Rockstar Games

Guides by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Tue May 06 2025

Popverse's top stories

How to be a success in American comic books in 2025, according to Spawn creator & Image Comics boss Todd McFarlane
Explaining Rachel Rozman, Natasha Lyonne's Fantastic Four: First Steps character [Lore Corner]
Star Trek: Voyager captain Kathryn Mulgrew doesn’t get fan hate for Janeway’s controversial decision in the Tuvix episode

The biggest game of 2025 just became the biggest game of 2026 as Rockstar Games has announced that Grand Theft Auto VI won’t be released in 2025 as planned. Instead, they have pushed GTA VI’s release date to next year. That will put it nearly 13 years after its predecessor became one of the best-selling video games of all time, which is a long time to wait for an inevitable sequel.

The synopsis of the game, courtesy of Rockstar Games, runs as follows: "Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive."

While Rockstar Games first confirmed that Grand Theft Auto VI was in development in 2022, it was expected to launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles in 2025. However, in May 2025, Rockstar announced that the GTA 6 release date would be May 26, 2026 instead.

The reasoning behind the delay hasn’t been given, but there is probably a good reason for why it has been more than 12 years since the previous game in the series came out. Grand Theft Auto V went on to sell more than 200 million copies, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time. It also made the successful transition to an online game after its launch, meaning that it continued to bring in money for Rockstar Games long after it was first released. As a result, the company – and the voice actors – have continued to profit from it over the years.

Grand Theft Auto VI will be released on May 26, 2026. Though it is still a long way off, there are loads of previous GTA games to play while you wait; here's how to play all of the Grand Theft Auto games in order.

The gaming industry has come a long way since Pong blew all our minds in the 70s. We've got everything you need to know about the next big thing in games. Of course, Grand Theft Auto VI is going to be the big game of 2026, but there are plenty of other games coming out between now and then. Here is our starter guide for every gamer: