Despite there being no confirmations, Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6) was pegged by fans for an announcement during the recent PlayStation 5 reveal event. Hence, imagine the surprise and dismay when Sony Interactive Entertainment kicked off the show with GTA 5 instead, which incidentally will be coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in an enhanced state next year.
Rockstar Games has definitely been working on a new installment in the franchise for years. There have been over a dozen reports, rumors, and leaks about the next-generation entry in the past few months alone. Rockstar Games is also not known to make early announcements just to please a crowd. Hence, in the wake of the PlayStation 5 reveal event, everyone has started asking the same question once again: where is GTA 6 and when will it be announced?
Taking to TikTok last week, former Rockstar Games producer Darion Lowenstein shared his professional insight on why GTA 6 has not been announced or why an announcement was missing from the recent PlayStation 5 reveal event. He also shed light on why GTA 5 is being ported to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
Because I used to produce games for Rockstar, tons of people are asking me why, at the PlayStation 5 event, did we get an announcement of an updated GTA 5, and not GTA 6. Honestly, from a development standpoint, there are a couple of good reasons. I’ve made a lot of games for new consoles, it’s really hard. Tech is constantly changing, and it’s really hard to make a AAA game at launch.
Second, like I said before, the constantly updating a pre-existing game, making it prettier, is WAY cheaper, way easier than an all-new one. So, if I had to guess, GTA 6 just isn’t ready, and GTA 5 will provide a lot of income, and an experience everyone already knows and loves, within a year of the PS5 launching.
In summation, despite what the rumor mills and alleged insiders claim, GTA 6 is not ready. Until it is, Rockstar Games will be cashing in by tapping into the next-generation player-base with GTA 5. The port will serve to transition the current player-base over to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
CEO Strauss Zelnick of parent company Take-Two Interactive recently stated that the next fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2021, will be light in terms of new releases. As in there will be no major releases for the next year. In other words, GTA 6 will not release before 2021. Hence, remove any expectations of the game arriving during the launch period of the next-generation consoles.
