GTA 6: release date window, trailer, gameplay, and more

Believe it or not, it has been over a decade since the last GTA game. While tons of people are still dumping hundreds of hours into GTA Online, everyone has been (not so) patiently waiting for Rockstar to finally confirm that a new entry is in the works. Despite many leaks and rumors, the team held strong until late 2023. Now that the game is finally confirmed, we have a lot more solid ground to cover in terms of what Grand Theft Auto 6 will offer. This is going to be the biggest game of the generation, if not all time, so let’s hotwire a car and pull off a heist to get all the information about GTA 6 there is.

GTA 6 release date

GTA 6 is set to release sometime in fall 2025, according to reports. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive, confirmed the launch window in a May 2024 earnings call.

“Our outlook reflects a narrowing of Rockstar Games’ previously established window of calendar 2025 to fall of calendar 2025 for Grand Theft Auto VI. We are highly confident that Rockstar Games will deliver an unparalleled entertainment experience, and our expectations for the commercial impact of the title continue to increase,” Zelnick explained in a press release discussing the outlook for fiscal year 2025.

GTA 6 trailer

The GTA 6 trailer was announced to be released on December 5, 2023, but was dropped a day early after a leaked version found its way online. Regardless, we now have our first look at the world and characters.

The protagonists of GTA 6 will be a pair rather than a single character or trio like past games. First is Lucia, who appears to have some criminal background based on her appearing in a prison uniform in the trailer. The other lead is a male character who we don’t have a name for just yet, but is clearly her partner in crime — and romance by the looks of it.

Perhaps the most important part of any GTA game is the setting, and for GTA 6, Rockstar is bringing us back to Vice City. Of course, this time we’ll be seeing it in the modern day instead of the late 1980s like before. The trailer shows a wide range of environments, from beaches and bustling city streets to suburbs and swamps.

GTA 6 platforms

GTA 6 is only officially confirmed to be coming to PlayStation 5and Xbox Series X/S at launch. While we can safely say this game won’t come to last-generation consoles or the Switch, it not being on PC does seem like a strange omission. GTA 5 did take two years to come to PC, but Red Dead Redemption 2 arrived only about two weeks later, so it is possible the PC release might just come slightly later, but that would still be a big disappointment for that player base. That does leave the next Nintendo console up in the air as well.

GTA 6 gameplay

The trailer didn’t show any real gameplay for GTA 6 and instead was all cinematic. Based on that, though, we can assume quite a bit about what the game will play like.

Just to get it out of the way, yes, you can rest assured knowing that GTA 6 will feature plenty of shooting, driving, and criminal activities. The trailer showed off robberies, high-speed chases, and plenty of partying. Beyond that, however, we mainly have to speculate or go off of very old leaks. We do think that GTA 6 will continue the trend of allowing players to swap between first- and third-person perspectives. This was added to GTA 5 and included at launch for Red Dead Redemption 2.

If the trailer is any indication, the amount of characters and action on-screen at any time means the world will be more densely packed than ever. Each NPC looks unique and appears very much “alive” while interacting with the world. Aside from shooting and running them over, we hope to see a lot more ways to interact with regular NPCs.

In a world that big, expect tons of side activities, minigames, and other distractions to discover and waste away hours on. Each title has upped the ante in terms of extras, and we don’t think GTA 6 will fall short here.

Will GTA 6 have GTA Online?

Arguably the most prominent change that came with GTA V was the implementation of GTA Online. This mode became the backbone of the game, roping in millions of players (and dollars) for a shared experience. The base game is excellent, but GTA Online is what has kept GTA V relevant nearly a decade after launch.

The point is that we’ll almost certainly get some sort of multiplayer functionality with GTA 6. Whether that means the entire game is online only or if there’s a dedicated multiplayer mode like the previous installment remains to be seen — but we can almost guarantee it will have an online mode.

Considering just how successful GTA Online became, it’s unlikely Rockstar will drop multiplayer functionality from the next installment.

Oddly enough, GTA 6’s version of GTA Online apparently won’t include dedicated servers. This comes by way of insider Tez, who said: “Take-Two rejected a proposal for dedicated servers a few years ago. They considered it cost-prohibitive for them.”

The real big question is if this new GTA Online will be available at launch or be a staggered release. The first version came out almost a month after GTA 5, and Red Dead Online took even longer at almost seven months. We don’t expect it to be nearly that long for GTA 6, but Rockstar may want to give players a few weeks to play the main game before tempting them with the online mode. And it would also be like a second launch to get back in the headlines.

When will you be able to pre-order GTA 6?

As expected, GTA 6 pre-orders aren’t available yet. Since the game isn’t coming until 2025 at the earliest, we don’t anticipate getting any pre-order information until that date is nailed down sometime that same year. Of course, it could be even further out if those delays do end up being true. In any case, we will update you with pre-order information on GTA 6 as soon as it is available.