New reports show that Grand Theft Auto VI might not be able to make its 2025 release schedule as staff adjust to a return to office mandate. While early 2025 is still the target, inside sources have told Kotaku that it is becoming far more likely the game could be pushed back until the end of that year and possibly even launch in early 2026. The potential later release date is said to be more of a last resort, or fallback contingency plan.
Per Kotaku:
“At the moment, I’m told that Rockstar is still “aiming” for GTA 6 to arrive in Spring 2025. While an early 2025 release is the goal, sources say they aren’t sure if this will happen and a Fall 2025 launch seems more plausible and feasible. Meanwhile, delaying the game to 2026 is on the table as a sort of “fallback plan” or “emergency” option if needed.”
RTO
Grand Theft Auto VI has already been in development for at least a decade now. Many changes have happened within the gaming industry, and the world, since its first stages began. The big elephant in the room is, of course, the pandemic which led many companies to embrace a work-from-home strategy to keep things moving. However, as most already know, many companies have begun implementing their return-to-office mandates. Rockstar Games (according to Bloomberg) announced in February, and according to reports rather abruptly, that it too was going back to a 5-day work-in-the-office requirement. The deadline for staff to comply with the new mandate is said to be April 15.
Rockstar was reported as saying that the reason for RTO is due to productivity and security concerns. The security concerns follow a massive 2022 leak that featured a substantial amount of gameplay footage from an early build of the game. Leaks for games in development are a somewhat common occurrence but interest in Rockstar’s Grand Theft franchise is of an epic proportion compared to many other AAA titles so it’s understood why the publisher would have concerns over them. It was just last week that industry insiders claimed to know its actual release date despite Rockstar not yet having announced it. Staff have voiced concerns over what the new mandate will do to their quality of life. They have also commented on how while security leaks are an issue, RTO is not the end-all-be-all solution for them.
Staff statement regarding leaks (via Aftermath):
“We’ve historically had leaks regardless of what setup we had,” said another. “Back with [Red Dead Redemption 2] we had leaks around the launch of that game. It’s never going to be 100 percent fully secure. People will be motivated to leak our content because there’s a great deal of interest in the products that we make.”
From potential unrealistic crunch time that has been known to create a lot of stress for staff, both at Rockstar and many other game studios, to concerns over the effectiveness of increased in-office presence vs. a more hybrid approach, staff are speaking up about the new mandate. Aftermath spoke with several employees regarding the matter and these common themes became apparent. It is because of these changes that staff are feeling less confident about meeting deadlines now, as well as fearing potential retaliation for resistance to adhering to the new mandate.