Well, it’s official that we have to wait more for Grand Theft Auto 6. Rockstar Games has confirmed that GTA 6 will release on November 19, 2026. The release date has been pushed back again, and yes, it stings. The game was expected to launch in May 2026, after already being delayed once from its original Fall 2025 window, and now it’s been pushed another six months down the road.
Rockstar announced the new release on X with a statement, “We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve.” Rockstar’s perfectionism is legendary. Red Dead Redemption 2 went through a similar delay cycle, but it doesn’t make the wait any easier. We have lived off trailers and speculation since the first reveal, and the hype has only grown.
Hi everyone,
Grand Theft Auto VI will now release on Thursday, November 19, 2026.
We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and… pic.twitter.com/yLX9KIiDzX
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) November 6, 2025
The game’s publisher, Take-Two Interactive, backed up the move during its quarterly earnings call, emphasizing that Rockstar has full support to take whatever time it needs. In an interview with IGN, CEO Strauss Zelnick said they’re “grateful to Rockstar for constantly seeking perfection,” and that the new schedule still fits into the company’s fiscal year.
It’s been more than 12 years since GTA 5’s arrival back in 2013. That game has currently sold over 220 million copies, and it’s not the end, thanks to GTA Online. But most of the fans are ready to leave Los Santos behind and finally cruise through Leonida, Rockstar’s fictional Florida-inspired state, which features the return of modern-day Vice City.
Of course, social media reacted the same you’d expect. Memes immediately flooded the feed — “We got X before GTA 6” trends are back in full force. iShowSpeed joked he’d have kids and a mortgage before the game drops. Although some fans are frustrated, which is understandable, others have taken the “better late than broken” stance. After what happened with Cyberpunk 2077, nobody wants the GTA 6 launch with bugs here and there.
Further, this delay follows a rough few weeks inside Rockstar. According to reports, 31 UK-based employees are being fired, and union organizers claim the firings were connected to an attempt to unionize. Protests have taken place outside Rockstar and Take-Two’s offices in London and Edinburgh on Thursday, though the company hasn’t commented further.
Still, the excitement for GTA 6 has not faded — if anything, the hunger is stronger than ever. With only two official trailers released so far, and offers a glimpse of the fnatic duo Jason and Lucia tearing through Leonida cities, fans are desperate for more. Rumors suggest a third trailer might drop soon to keep the hype alive.
It’s a long wait, no doubt. But if Rockstar’s history tells us anything, it tells us that when the studio finally pulls the trigger, the result is worth the agony. So we can only hope November 2026 will be the finish line this time because, at this rate, we might be driving flying cars in real life before we get behind the wheel in Vice City again.
