Grand Theft Auto 6 fans are worried that the game could face a delay following Donald Trump being re-elected as President of the United States. GTA 6 is by far and away the most anticipated game on the horizon and maybe even the most anticipated entertainment product. Fans have waited over a decade for its release and it has been six years since Rockstar Games’ last big release. The first trailer debuted almost a full year ago and there’s been a lot of hype building for the next trailer which is speculated to debut before the end of the year. With all of that said, fans are worried that a delay could be imminent following current events.
Kamala Harris has officially conceded to Donald Trump after it became clear that the former President would be re-elected. While this may seem like a strange link to GTA 6, the news brought up an old quote from 2018. When promoting the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, former Rockstar Games boss and Grand Theft Auto writer Dan Houser told GQ that he was “thankful” to not be releasing GTA 6 during a Trump presidency as he felt the game’s satire would become immediately outdated upon release and that era was “beyond satire”. This has led some to feel like Rockstar Games would delay Grand Theft Auto 6. However, you really have no reason to fear.
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For starters, Dan Houser left Rockstar Games in 2020. He couldn’t make a decision based on that even if he wanted to. Second, Take-Two Interactive confirmed today in its latest investors call that Grand Theft Auto 6 is still on track to release in Fall 2025. Third, the game is knee-deep in development and is likely gearing up for its final stages. It’s too late to make any big sweeping changes to the story or writing and it’s outlandish to think Rockstar Games would sit on what will be one of the biggest games of all time simply because of who is sitting in the Oval Office. Some have also raised concerns over Trump’s expressed desire to get a handle on violent video games, but it seems half-hearted and many others have tried to ban violent video games before and failed. Needless to say, you shouldn’t fear a GTA 6 delay because of the election.
If Rockstar Games does decide to delay Grand Theft Auto 6, it will likely be because it needs more time to polish the game. Rockstar Games does have a habit of delaying its games, but GTA 6 may be an exception. It would be extremely controversial for the developer to have a public delay and lead to a lot of broken hearts and probably some damage to Take-Two’s stock. It’s been rumored that GTA 6 was targeting an early 2025 release at one point, but it was internally pushed to fall 2025 before Rockstar gave it a more specific release window. It’s likely Rockstar will take extensive measures to avoid a GTA 6 delay and if it does happen, it’s because it is absolutely necessary for a high quality, polished release.
As of right now, fans should expect GTA 6 to release between September and November. Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto V in September 2013 and Red Dead Redemption 2 in October 2018, leading to absurd success for both games. We can probably expect the game to release in one of those two months, as to avoid expected competition like Call of Duty which typically releases in the last week of October or the first week or two of November (though Black Ops 4 moved up a few weeks in October 2018 to get away from Red Dead Redemption 2). Ideally, Rockstar Games will put a hard date on Grand Theft Auto 6 with the second trailer and fans won’t have to anxiously wonder when they can expect it any longer.