Welcome to the first edition of a new weekly column I’m calling “GTA 6 Rumor Report.” It feels like the entire gaming world is desperate for any scrap of information about Grand Theft Auto VI, and with Rockstar being one of the most secretive companies around, that is the perfect environment for rumors, claimed leaks and wild speculation to thrive.

Separating the rumors with actual substance, and the ones that are just pure clickbait, can be a little difficult, so my goal with this new column is to cut through the clutter, and bring you a weekly roundup of the biggest GTA 6 updates you need to know about as we build up to its hugely anticipated launch on November 19, 2026 (please Rockstar, no more delays).

The last seven days have certainly been interesting. While there’s been no official word on GTA 6 (what else is new?), there’s been plenty of online noise to fill the void. So, without further introduction, these are the latest GTA 6 rumors. Just remember, this article is based on unsubstantiated reporting; take everything within with a healthy grain of salt.

Biggest GTA 6 rumors and updates this week

The wait could have been over

We were almost there. In some parallel universe, we could have been playing GTA 6 right now. The game was originally slated to launch on May 26, 2026. But rather cruelly, last November, Rockstar confirmed that the release was being delayed six months to November 2026.

Because this week marked what was supposed to be GTA 6’s release date, many fans assumed that Rockstar would offer a makeup of sorts by delivering new information, or perhaps even dropping the third trailer for the game. But May 26, 2026, came and went like any other day, which is to say there wasn’t even a tiny morsel of new GTA 6 details to chew over.

The GTA 6 Reddit took the lack of updates on this specific day particularly poorly, with users lamenting Rockstar’s continued silence. But it serves as another reminder that the developers of Grand Theft Auto are basically impossible to predict. I guess, for now, the long wait for Trailer 3 goes on.

Xbox post leads to a surge of speculation

One of the stranger occurrences over the past week was the official Xbox account on X posting “November 19th,” a link to wishlist GTA 6 on the Microsoft Store, and an image of the GTA 6 key art showing Jason and Lucia. This racked up more than 260,000 likes and nearly 40 million views.

It marks the first time the Xbox account has acknowledged GTA 6 in almost a full year (per The Shortcut). And naturally, it led to rampant speculation that the folks over at Xbox were subtly teasing some big GTA 6 news on the horizon. Perhaps the announcement of when fans can pre-order the game, or maybe a hint at some Xbox-exclusive GTA 6 content.

So far, this tweet hasn’t been followed up on by the Xbox account. My gut feeling is that it was merely a case of the Xbox social team jumping on the GTA 6 hype train to boost engagement and to increase the platform’s wishlist numbers. But here's hoping it's a sign of things to come.

GTA 6 reviews will be ‘important’

For months, rumors have been swirling about how exactly Rockstar (and parent company Take-Two) will handle GTA 6 reviews. There’s even been speculation that GTA 6 is such a behemoth that it might forgo the traditional reviews process entirely, with members of the gaming press not getting access to the game until launch day, along with everybody else.

However, in the most recent episode of “The Games Business” podcast, Christopher Dring (editor-in-chief of the publication) relayed comments from Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick. According to Dring, Zelnick suggested that GTA 6 reviews will be “important.” This, at least on the surface, would suggest that GTA 6 reviews are something Take-Two/Rockstar cares about.

Of course, we’re a long way off from GTA 6 reviews, and at this stage, there’s no concrete information on when (or even if) media outlets will get access to the game before release. And to be frank, GTA 6 is essentially review-proof. Very few players will make their purchase based on review scores.

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Take-Two Interactive has millions of gamers eagerly anticipating the launch of arguably the biggest game of the year, Grand Theft Auto VI. While the video game publisher has a long line of equally major IPs under its belt (NBA 2K, WWE 2K, and Borderlands, among them), the massive open-world experience known as GTA stands above them all.

And according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, the notion that generative AI will be able to produce games on the level of GTA is simply “laughable.”

Creating assets but not hits

During an extensive sit-down interview with The Game Business Show, Zelnick discussed several topics related to the use of AI in video game development.

The unveiling of Google Labs’ Project Genie tool, which has the power to generate interactive worlds simply by inputting text and image prompts, resulted in major AAA gaming companies like Take-Two’s stock prices dipping—it’s clear that video game investors feared that anyone would be able to make AAA games thanks to AI and begin putting them out at a faster rate compared to major development studios.

Zelnick made it clear that he’s not worried whatsoever about Project Genie or any other generative AI tools that promise to generate virtual worlds in mere minutes. “These tools may help you create assets, but that won’t help you create hits,” he stated. “There are loads of assets out there now. It doesn’t matter if you push a button to create an asset, or it takes you six weeks, at the end of the day, you have an asset. And thousands of mobile games are launched every year, and there are only a handful of hits.”

Zelnick also pointed out that AI can assist developers in their creation of standout gaming experiences, but the ever-evolving technology doesn’t have the power to produce anything on the level of interactive entertainment that humans make. “The notion that somehow new tools would allow an individual to push a button and generate a hit and bring it to many millions of consumers around the world, it’s a laughable notion,” Zelnick pointed out. “It’s just never been the case with entertainment.”

When presented with the idea that Project Genie could increase your everyday AI prompt writer’s capacity to create something on par with Rockstar Studios’ open-world epics, Zelnick recognized that AI could create assets “that might look like NBA 2K or EA Sports FC.” But at the end of the day, he believes that the development of mega franchises like those three "require human engagement [and] human creativity."

DLSS 5 backlash

Speaking of AI’s continued involvement in the video game industry, Nvidia isn’t getting the most positive feedback for its introduction of AI software that’s meant to improve the visual fidelity of characters and environments. During a Q&A session with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at this year’s GTC conference, Huang downplayed the criticisms of gamers who weren’t too thrilled with the way DLSS 5 alters the visual fidelity of their favorite games.

When asked about the negative comments from gamers online, by Tom's Hardware editor-in-chief Paul Alcorn, Huang had this to say: “Well, first of all, they're completely wrong. The reason for that is because, as I have explained very carefully, DLSS 5 fuses controllability of the geometry and textures and everything about the game with generative AI.”

AI in video games: Outlook

Zelnick is stern in his belief that human involvement in game creation is far more valuable than generative AI, and the majority of gamers believe that to be true. While major gaming companies such as Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Square Enix are implementing AI into their video game development workflow, human creativity and technical know-how are still greatly emphasized in the creation of their AAA projects.

Zelnick’s statements point to Take-Two still placing importance on experienced human developers having what it takes to craft major hits like GTA and not the latest model of generative AI software.

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It looks like Grand Theft Auto 6 may have just taken another step closer to actually being released. According to the dataminer PlayStation Game Size, developers Rockstar have just added the title IDs for GTA 6 to the PlayStation Store. They speculate that this will precede some news about the game, possibly an announcement of pre-orders.

For those that don't know, title IDs are the different versions of the game that appear in a digital store. Presumably, the base version of the game has been added, suggesting a little more is happening behind the scenes than the placeholder listing that's been on the PS Store for several months.

There isn't a whole lot of information to glean beyond this particular fact. PlayStation Game Size even admitted that there's no telling how long it might be between this database update and announcements about pricing. Apparently, it depends on the publisher, which would make predictions difficult, though they don't think there's going to be a long wait.

Obviously, this is going to offer a glimmer of hope for GTA fans, who are eagerly awaiting the release of the new game. It's been over 12 years since the release of GTA 5, not including the current-gen remaster, which is longer than the time between the release of the original GTA in 1997 and GTA 4 in 2008. Considering GTA 6 has been officially delayed twice already, anything that suggests it'll actually arrive on November 19 can only be good news.

The reveal of pricing information is also especially important because there's been a lot of speculation that Rockstar may increase the price of the base game beyond the current $70 limit. In fact, some sources claim the developer (and publisher TakeTwo) may try to charge as much as $100 for the standard version of the game.

Nobody wants that, because games are expensive enough as it is. And while I do not doubt that plenty of people will pay full price for GTA 6, Rockstar would be mindful that higher prices may put some people off buying the game. Fewer people with the game means a smaller potential multiplayer base, and it's been clear for a while that this is where Rockstar makes the big bucks.

All we can do is speculate right now, and hopefully, this means we don't have much longer to wait before Rockstar reveals pre-order and pricing information. Alongside details of whatever special editions and potential early-ordering bonuses will be available.

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With a Rockstar earnings call coming up soon, speculation ramped up regarding the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto 6, thanks to an updated PlayStation Store page listing. Well, no need to speculate anymore as Rockstar Games just tweeted out a major delay for GTA 6.

"Grand Theft Auto 6 will now release on Thursday, November 19, 2026," the official account tweet reads.

The missive goes on to say that Rockstar needs the extra months for additional polish. "We are incredibly excited for players to experience the sprawling state of Leonida and a return to modern day Vice City," a follow-up tweet says.

Previously, it was expected that the GTA 5 sequel would drop on May 26, 2026. That delayed date was announced this past May by Rockstar.

"We hope you understand that we need this extra time to deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve," a press release said at the time.

Even that date was questioned since Red Dead Redemption 2 was also promised a spring release before it too was delayed to a fall launch.

This new date may be more solid though. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick spoke with The Game Business saying that the company feels good about the date.

"When we set a date, we really do believe in it. We said when we set the last date, if a game requires more polish to be the best possible version of itself, then we will give that game more time. And that’s exactly what happened," Zelnick said. "We feel really good about this release date. It’s in the same fiscal year, it happens to be a great release window, and naturally we’re really supportive of Rockstar’s approach.”

That sentiment is the same as what Zelnick expressed when the game was supposed to launch this year.

It's been six months since the last GTA 6 trailer, so people were expecting some kind of announcement ahead of the Rockstar and Take-Two earnings call taking place this week. The first GTA 6 trailer was previously announced before an earnings call.

GTA 6 delay: Fan reactions

It's been 12 years since GTA 5 was released to acclaim, which launched nine years after Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Rockstar likes to take its time, not a given in the video game industry.

Fans reacted on X (nee Twitter) mostly with jokes. One of the first tweets underneath the announcement asks, "When do you all think GTA 7 comes out?"

The GTA 6 subreddit was a bit angrier with one poster calling it "insane."

Several posted similar jokes along the lines of thinking the game was coming out much later and applauding Rockstar for getting it out sooner than anticipated. There's also the common refrain that many of them will likely die of old age before the next GTA actually hits consoles.

Outlook

Considering GTA 6 was already delayed before, it's actually surprising that publisher Take-Two and Zelnick are cool with this new delay.

"There have been limited circumstances where more time was required to polish a title and make sure that it was spectacular and that time has been well-spent," Zelnick told IGN. "When our competitors go to market before something was ready, bad things happen."

Outside of Take-Two's financial ambitions, Rockstar and the GTA franchise aren't hurting. GTA Online and GTA V continue to rake in money. In May, our colleagues at GamesRader reported that GTA 5 still sells 5 million units every three months. Red Dead Redemption 2 sold 4 million units in the first quarter of 2025 alone.

With that in mind, sales for GTA 6 are expected to be astronomic. And as one former dev told GamesRadar, Rockstar won't release the game until it's "100% happy with it."

In the meantime, Rockstar has been accused of union-busting and claiming that a spate of recent firings were due to leaks of "confidential information" and not to potential unions.

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Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA VI) is coming soon. While we don't have an exact release date, we may have just learned the price of the game, and it looks completely unprecedented compared to the cost of other modern video games.

According to analyst Michael Pachter, the managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, GTA VI could sell for $100 per copy, vastly exceeding the $70 price that has become the norm for video games during the Xbox Series X|S and PS5 generation.

“We think the company has plans to sell the game at a previously unheard of price point, and suspect that management can offer consumers an incentive to pay $100 or more per unit by rewarding them with a large amount of in-game currency to be spent in GTA Online,” he wrote.

Those who only want to play the single-player Grand Theft Auto 6 experience might be stuck spending a more significant sum to get some online currency they won't use, which is far from ideal for consumers.

“In Activision’s case, the integration led to a 40% increase in sales of Call of Duty premium; in Take-Two’s case, we think a successful integration of GTA Online and GTA VI can lead to a $100 price point for the premium game," Pachter continued.

While it's hard to argue that the company wouldn't want to make a bunch of extra money on GTA 6, you could also make the case that (based on its predecessor's performance) the game will generate absurd revenue without hitting people for a forced $30 in-game currency purchase.

Last month, GTA publisher Take-Two said that GTA 6 is still scheduled to release in the fall of 2025, so we'll learn more about the price at some point before that.

Hopefully, Rockstar and Take-Two still offer a more affordable version of the game without the premium currency for those not interested in GTA Online.

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"Grand Theft Hamlet" was one of my favorite movies that I managed to see in 2024 ... and I saw a lot of movies last year.

On the surface, the prospect of a movie shot entirely within Grand Theft Auto Online seems like a bizarre proposition; Los Santos is, by design, an anarchic lawless world. Wresting control over Rockstar Games' online sandbox is nigh on impossible; anyone who has spent even a few moments on the streets of San Andreas will know a fellow avatar could take you out with a speeding car, an RPG, or a fighter jet out of the blue.

With that chaotic but richly detailed world as its backdrop, "Grand Theft Hamlet" — a movie about trying to stage Shakespeare's eponymous play within GTA — shouldn't work, but it does. You need only look at that impressive 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes (and the movie's many glowing reviews) as proof.

Now that "Grand Theft Hamlet" is streaming on MUBI, I'd urge as many people as possible to check it out. This is a bizarre, hilarious documentary that's unlike any other take on Shakespeare's eponymous play you've seen before. Here's a little bit more info about "Grand Theft Hamlet," including why I loved it as much as I did.

What is 'Grand Theft Hamlet' about?

Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane's "Grand Theft Hamlet" takes us back in time a few years to January 2021, wherein the UK has just entered its third lockdown.

All theatres across the nation remain closed, and the future for the arts sector is looking bleak. It's at this moment we meet Mark Oosterveen and Sam Crane, two out-of-work actors who have been passing the time by roaming around the virtual world of Grand Theft Auto Online.

During a session, they happen to stumble across the Vinewood Bowl, an in-game theater, and that gives them the bold idea to try and stage the entirety of William Shakespeare's Hamlet inside the game. "Grand Theft Hamlet" then follows Mark and Sam's attempts to do exactly that, capturing all the chaos along the way.

Why you should stream 'Grand Theft Hamlet'

If you've spent any time on YouTube you'll know that countless people have turned their time in GTA Online into online entertainment, but "Grand Theft Hamlet" stands head and shoulders above a let's play.

What sets it apart is that the movie's been realized, shot, paced, and stitched together with a talented filmmaker's sensibility, one that makes the most of the medium and the tools it offers to tell this bizarre story.

That's not to say the content itself isn't entertaining, though; "Grand Theft Hamlet" is artful, but also frequently laugh-out-loud funny, stuffed with chance encounters with the bizarre characters and ridiculous surprises that you could only find in a game like GTA Online.

Beneath its absurd veneer is an honest, human, and thoroughly engaging watch, one very interested in this world's potential for storytelling, and bolstered by moments of genuine human connection captured at a time when staying connected was very, very difficult indeed.

Overall, "Grand Theft Hamlet" is a worthy, touching watch, and a movie I am way more fond of than I expected to be when I sat down in a theater to watch it the first time.

Experimental though it may be, by the time the credits roll, I all but guarantee you'll be rooting for Sam, Mark, and their avatar cast to go out there and break a virtual leg. Seriously, go and stream "Grand Theft Hamlet" on MUBI, I promise it's worth it. And, if nothing else, watching it should at the very least be a good way to distract yourself from the long, long wait for Grand Theft Auto VI to drop.

Not sold on "Grand Theft Hamlet," but still in need of some more movie recommendations? We can still help. For more help planning your viewing, check out our guide to the best movies on Netflix or the best Prime Video movies for tons more suggestions on what to watch next.

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Everyone's waiting for more GTA 6 news, right? Since that Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer dropped in December 2023, we've heard precious little info about Rockstar's next game, least of all a precise release date beyond the "fall of calendar 2025", per a Take-Two annual earnings report.

Well, as of yesterday (Jan. 29), that may have changed. Courtesy of online Spanish retailer, XUruguay, we may have just learned when gamers can finally get their hands on the hotly-anticipated video game this year.

As reported by Notebookcheck, XUruguay listed GTA 6 as a PS5 exclusive, and placed the release date as Wednesday, September 17, 2025. If that's true, the game would land on the 12th anniversary of Grand Theft Auto 5.

If you try to visit the GTA 6 PS5 listing on XUruguay, you're now greeted with a "Page Not Found" message on the storefront.

Before it was removed, 80 Level obtained a screenshot of the listing, and reported that a resident local to the store had approached XUruguay where they sourced that info.

According to the outlet, XUruguay said they "work directly with PlayStation, which provides them with information of what products to sell and when." But whether this leak is true remains to be seen.

Neither Rockstar Games nor its parent company and publisher Take-Two Interactive have commented on the leak as of the time of writing, so we're yet to learn whether this rumored GTA 6 release date is true or not.

However, it's possible we may not have to wait much longer for more info. For one thing, Take-Two recommitted to the planned autumn launch window amid rumors of the game's delay back in September 2024, and the company has since confirmed that its next earnings call will take place on February 6, 2025.

That means, in just a few days' time, the publisher may well comment on the leak, or it could end speculation entirely by revealing a proper release date, or at the very least inform eager gamers when we might learn more about what's in store in Rockstar's newest open-world game.

This comes not long after there was discussion of GTA 6 possibly costing as much as $80 to $100 at launch, though IGN has reported the industry analysts they spoke to don't believe this to be the case.

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Grand Theft Auto VI, Rockstar’s next major open-world experience and one of (if not the) most anticipated games of the decade, finally finds a reasonable timeline for its release window, scheduled for fall 2025. 

Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive held its Q4 earnings call today (May 16) in which it changed forecasts to reflect a newly expected launch window for the next installment of Grand Theft Auto. 

The current version, 2013's Grand Theft Auto V, has now sold more than 200 million copies. The next open-world adventure is geared to take players back to Vice City, last seen in 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. 

Previously, Take-Two had listed a calendar 2025 release for Grand Theft Auto VI, but launching the game in the closing months of the year is forcing the company to revise its expected bookings for fiscal year 2025 to between $5.55 billion to $5.65 billion. Previous forecasts were projected to be around $8 billion.

GTA VI has been the topic of many various discussion in the gaming world. Several months prior, a report out of Kotaku claimed that production on the sandbox experience was stalling and the previously earmarked spring 2025 release window might be missed. 

Now, it's clear that Rockstar is vying to launch GTA VI by fall 2025 at the earliest, though a delay might still be likely given previous releases. The last high-profile video game launch out of Rockstar, the western epic Red Dead Redemption 2, was initially planned to launch in Autumn 2017, yet was delayed to Spring 2018. It eventually released on October 26 that same year. 

The first and only official trailer of GTA VI, released five months prior, now sits at more than 190 million views on YouTube. The wait for Rockstar's next open-world experience is at a fever pitch, with fans itching for more information by the day. It's unclear when to expect another teaser, but given this latest news, it's good advice to remain patient. 

Take-Two Interactive shares fell in after-hours trading following the earnings report. The news of Grand Theft Auto's release proves a major revenue driver and will be a defining new experience in the industry upon its debut. 

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Launched in 2008, "Grand Theft Auto 4" brought players back to the narrow streets and dimly lit cityscape that is Liberty City — this time in full HD. It proved to be a remarkable leap forward, leveraging Rockstar’s sparkly new RAGE engine for improved physics and graphical fidelity.

Although it raked in multitudes of perfect scores, still sitting at a 98 Metacritic score to date, "GTA 4" lives on as a relatively overrated experience in the minds of most gamers. Shoddy driving, insane (often even otherworldly) physics, and a darker tone all prove to leave some rather disappointed with the first HD iteration of Liberty City.

And yet, its tendrils can still be felt to this day, evoking in hilarious ways a cultural shift as the world of New York City and beyond became ever-more reliant on modern technologies, like the cell phone, internet blogs, and directional GPS. It’s a shining beacon of times long past and, despite its age, remains one of my personal favorites in the franchise.

Over the past several months, I’ve been replaying "GTA 4" on PS3 (as we still don’t have a remaster), retreading the dark and gloomy atmosphere of Rockstar’s very first foray into HD worldbuilding. All the while, I can’t help but think of the ways "Grand Theft Auto 6," the franchise’s 12th installment and Rockstar’s next major hit, could benefit from using some elements that made its predecessor so unforgettable.

A darkness all its own

Rockstar took a dramatic turn with the storytelling, atmosphere, and even the combat in "GTA 4." Unlike previous games, which were often a bit too cartoonish and relatively easy to beat, "GTA 4" was a world of difference. It featured the dark and gloomy setting of Liberty City with an ex-military Eastern European protagonist looking for an escape from his own dark past.

Much of the story of "GTA 4" revolves around Niko and his cousin, Roman, as they attempt to make a life for themselves in a city rocked by terrorism, corruption, and ever-rising crime rates. Despite leaving his homeland for a better future in America, Niko is instead thrust back into a life of violence and murder.

In stark contrast to its sequel and its predecessors, "GTA 4" would leave its players with a paltry $700,000 in its final act, a measly sum compared to the potential $1 billion players could get at the end of "GTA 5." It’s owed to the underlying premise of the story, which Rockstar itself deemed to be a “rags to slightly better rags” tale, a gritty and more realistic portrayal of life in the big city.

Even "GTA 4’s" combat was more difficult. You might have a larger health bar, but damage was dialed up to 11 and gun fights were made all the more harrowing with blurred vision effects when changing targets and a limited arsenal compared to previous games.

The game’s ragdoll physics were a major plus too, allowing Niko to automatically push and run into pedestrians, often shoving them to the ground with dramatic (and hilarious) effect. This also made deaths, whether it be Niko or NPCs, that much more life-like.

This built-in realism and gritty narrative is what makes "GTA 4" so special and, although it might not have the same tight-knit city best suited for such a true-to-life digital world, "GTA 6" definitely should take notice with its own dark narrative elements, difficult combat, and more realistic animations.

As Rockstar’s RAGE engine reaches its ninth version, with many claiming it now to be superior than even Unreal Engine 5, it’s a safe bet that "GTA 6" will have quite the realism baked in and its first trailer certainly attests to that.

Pastimes galore

To combat its overriding darkness, "GTA 4" provides a slew of supporting characters and activities as a bit of levity. It might have turned into a running gag, with Roman’s constant calls to go bowling now forever immortalized as a meme, but I do miss that emphasis on friendships and relationships, which I found was sorely lacking in "GTA 5."

When taking characters out on the town, players are greeted with some awesome dialogue that wouldn’t be heard otherwise. Great examples include Little Jacob, Dwayne, and even Packie, all of whom gift the player deeper insights into the story and where their true motives lie.

Minigames like bowling, pool, and darts (the latter of which being the only one to make it into "GTA 5"), similarly offered up an escape from the downtrodden Liberty City streets and constant death hanging over Niko’s story.

While I’m sure "GTA 6" will have its own slew of enticing mini-games, many of which being Florida parodies, I do hope that we can take friends and acquaintances out to these spots for a bit of fun when not joyriding through pedestrians across Vice Beach. Nothing beats a bit of bowling with Roman to quell the overriding sadness plaguing "GTA 4’s" story, and I hope similar beats of joy can be felt in "GTA 6."

Single Player DLC

Although "GTA 4" did have its own online mode (one that many still claim is far superior to the current version), "GTA Online" sparked a whole new way for Rockstar to monetize its player base. Sure, the game sold over 16 million units in less than a week, which generated about $1.15 billion for Rockstar, but its online portion proved to be even more profitable, with daily revenue estimated at $2.5 million.

Given this momentous success, ensuring that "GTA 5" became the most profitable entertainment product of all time, the game would unfortunately lose out on some incredible single-player DLCs. With stories now coming out of multiple canned projects, one of which even containing a modern Liberty City map, many are hoping that "GTA 6" won’t miss out on similar updates in its future lifespan.

While it can’t all be blamed on "GTA Online," as the studio was in the process of building "Red Dead Redemption 2" as well, it’s still sad that "GTA 5" didn’t get the same love "GTA 4" did with such awesome updates like "The Lost and the Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony."

Both offered players completely new protagonists to follow with dual stories that blended together, helping to shape a full picture of Liberty City and the intertwining lives of its inhabitants. Despite its massive size, Liberty City proved to be incredibly tight-knit as random characters came together in the most interesting ways.

"GTA 6" and all of its Florida Man glory will hopefully have similar interactions. As opposed to "GTA 5" (and "GTA 4" if you count its DLCs), the next "GTA" game will follow only two protagonists, Jason and Lucia. Maybe a forthcoming DLC could introduce a whole new character, one we meet in the main game, that offers an enticing new perspective on Vice City — and, hopefully, beyond, with additions like Liberty City, Las Venturas, and more joining the setlist later into its existence.

With "Grand Theft Auto 6" not slated for release until 2025, fans have quite a long wait ahead of them. At least there’s more than enough content to satiate the masses, with the "GTA Definitive Edition" hitting Netflix and a full port of "Red Dead Redemption" now available on modern consoles.

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On Christmas Eve, as highlighted by our sister site Tom’s Hardware, the entire GTA 5 source code was dumped online, seemingly protesting the sentence handed down to the 18-year-old who leaked the GTA 6 footage last year.

Despite being the source code for a decade-old game, the leak will doubtless cause a massive headache for Rockstar as it makes life a lot easier for those looking to find exploits in the still-popular GTA 5 online game.

But it also gives the world an insight into what might have been if said online mode hadn’t quickly become a massive cash cow for the company. According to Insider Gaming, the leak references no fewer than eight pieces of DLC which ultimately never saw the light of day. 

These are reportedly the names of the content in question:

• “SP Assassination Pack” 
• "SP Manhunt Pack"
• "SP Norman Pack"
• "Agent Trevor"
• "Relationship Pack"
• "Enterprise DLC"
• "Prologue DLC"
• "LibertyV DLC"

Unfortunately, names are all we have to go on, and it’s impossible to know how far along any one of these was, or how substantial they might have been. The “SP [single player?] Assassination Pack”, for example, might just be a bunch of weapon skins for all we know. 

But it’s still fun to speculate. “Prologue” sounds like a bit of story before the game’s events, while “LibertyV” suggests a jaunt back to Liberty City.

Beyond that, could “Agent Trevor” have been a new solo campaign where Trevor flips and starts to work undercover for the FBI? Would the “Relationship Pack” have brought dates and relationships back into GTA 5, like in GTA 4? Most intriguingly, could the “SP Manhunt Pack” be related to Rockstar’s grizzly 2003 adventure Manhunt?

We’ll probably never know for sure. But we do have some insight into why Rockstar never brought out single player DLC for the game, despite producing a handful for Red Dead Redemption and GTA 4 in the Xbox 360/PS3 era.

“With GTA 5, the single-player game was absolutely massive and very, very complete,” Rockstar Design Director Imran Sarwar told Game Informer back in 2017, arguing that it was essentially “three games in one.”

As GTA 5 came out just one month before the PS4 and Xbox One arrived, it was then full speed ahead for the next-gen versions which emerged a year later, complete with improved graphics, higher traffic density and a brand-new first-person mode. Then the online mode took off in a big way, and Red Dead Redemption 2 required extra help: there simply wasn’t the time or resource to tell more tales from San Andreas.

Hopefully circumstances are different enough now for single-player DLC to become viable again for the upcoming GTA 6, when it launches in 2025.  

Try not to drop your monocle over this shocker, but it turns out the first GTA 6 trailer is kind of a big deal. Developer Rockstar Games just bagged a cool new two million YouTube subscribers within the opening 24 hours of the debut teaser going live (thanks, GameRant). Not a bad day at the office, huh?  

Yet as a colossal fan of the series, I'm not exactly thrilled at the prospect of returning to Vice City.

It's not that I'm suffering from franchise fatigue or anything of the sort. Grand Theft Auto is my favorite video game series of all time. I've been thirsting for the next entry in the iconic franchise oh so bad for over a decade at this point. 

I’ve adored every entry since the series went 3D with 2001’s GTA 3 — a title I’d class as among the most important in the history of the medium, seeing as it essentially laid down the open-world template for every subsequent competing franchise to copy. 

Not that Grand Theft Auto actually has any true competition, of course. GTA 5 has sold almost 200 million copies. Saints Row, for example, has become a shambles of a series. For my money, the only open-world games that are even close to the quality of Franklin, Michael and Trevor’s Los Santos caper are Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. 

I’ll freely admit Grand Theft Auto 5 is my second favorite game ever made, which is why this next sentence is gonna be painful to type. I’m not exactly thrilled that GTA 6 is returning to Vice City. 

Last seen in 2002’s amazing Grand Theft Auto: (you guessed it) Vice City, this is Rockstar’s fictional take on Miami. It was the glorious sun-bathed tonic my soul needed after capping so many dudes on the dreary streets of Liberty City a year prior.

I can still vividly remember my first trip down Ocean Drive, the wind sending ripples through Tommy Vercetti's — rest easy, Ray Liotta — Hawaiian shirt as A Flocks of Seagulls “I Ran (So Far Away)” blared over Wave 103.

No game has ever captured the spirit of the 1980s quite like GTA: Vice City.

And that’s why I’ve got a bit of a problem returning to Rockstar’s fictional version of The 305. What made the original Vice City so special was the fact it was set in the ‘80s. The soundtrack, the clothes and all those nods to Scarface were absolutely crucial to the game’s success.

Geographically, Vice City is probably the least interesting 3D city the developer has produced, but it was easy to overlook slightly boring street layouts because the vibe of the game was so special.

Miami nice?

I’ve visited Miami exactly once in real-life, and even then I only got to see its airport and a nearby hotel after my plane back to London had to turn around when it started to leak fuel. Hoo-boy was that fun for someone with crippling aviophobia. And look, I’ve got no doubt the updated Vice City is going to be a far more expansive, vastly more detailed recreation of Miami than what was possible to render back in 2002 when GTA 6 releases on PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.

I just can’t shake the feeling that I’m not going to enjoy cruising around its streets as much as Liberty City, Las Venturas, San Fierro or Los Santos. That’s partly because I’ve been lucky enough to have spent vacations in New York CIty, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Currently, I’m not all that excited to explore the everglades surrounding the new city, either. My reason for this is pretty specific (and probably a bit harsh), but I’m worried it’ll feel a bit samey after spending so many hours in swamps of Lemoyne with Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2.

That said, the notion of airboat chases sounds like a hoot. And I’m all about that Bonnie and Clyde style tale (revolving around protagonist Lucia and her currently unnamed partner in crime/boyfriend) it looks like Rockstar is attempting to tell.

To close this out, lemme circle back to one crucial point: I think GTA 6 will almost certainly be a 5/5 classic. I’ve 100%-ed GTA 5 on PS3, PS5 and on my desktop rig (where my Steam library on one of the best gaming PCs tells me I’ve clocked up 383.2 hours causing chaos across Blaine Country).

Right now, though, I’m just a little concerned that this trip back to Vice City will miss the ‘80s magic that made Vercetti’s sandbox such a blast to go Tony Montana on.

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In a year packed with incredible releases, it takes a certain amount of star power (or, should we say, Rockstar power) for a trailer debut to become one of 2023's most hotly anticipated events in the games industry. But that's exactly the case with Grand Theft Auto 6. 

Rockstar Games has announced GTA 6's debut trailer will go live on Tuesday, December 5 at 9 a.m. ET. You'll be able to catch the new trailer on Rockstar's official YouTube channel, as was the case with the debut trailer for GTA 5. In fact, the YouTube premiere page is live now, and the countdown has begun!

This premiere page also confirms that the trailer will be one minute and 31 seconds. Last month, the company revealed in a Rockstar Newswire post that it planned to share the first official look at GTA 6 sometime in early December. 

"Thanks to the incredible support of our players worldwide, we have had the opportunity to create games we are truly passionate about — without you, none of this would be possible, and we are so grateful to all of you for sharing this journey with us," Rockstar President Sam Houser wrote. "In 1998, Rockstar Games was founded on the idea that video games could come to be as essential to culture as any other form of entertainment, and we hope that we have created games you love in our efforts to be part of that evolution."

When can you watch the GTA 6 trailer?

As we mentioned above, the trailer will officially launch on Tuesday Dec. 5 at 9am ET. Here is that time in every other timezone.

• US (Pacific Time): Tuesday Dec. 5 at 6am
• UK (GMT): Tuesday Dec. 5 at 2pm
• Mainland Europe (CEST): Tuesday Dec. 5 at 3pm
• Australia (AEDT): Wednesday Dec. 6 at 1am
• Tokyo, Japan (JST): Tuesday Dec. 5 at 11pm

When is GTA 6 coming out? 

Much about GTA 6 remains the subject of speculation for now, but plenty of rumors have swirled in the last decade since its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto 5, released to critical acclaim.  

In terms of a release window, speculation based on parent company Take-Two's sales projections puts GTA 6's launch anywhere between April 2024 and May 2025. As for the consoles you'll be able to play it on, the potential 2024/5 release means we'll be firmly into the PS5/Xbox Series X generation by then. Though it's possible we could see Rockstar release a version for the PS4 and Xbox One if it's feeling generous. 

In September 2022, Rockstar confirmed that GTA 6 was officially in development. But the gamemaker has released precious few details about the game's setting, characters, features and more that fans can expect. The reason for that, we now know, is that the company wants the unveiling of the game to "exceed players' expectations," particularly after such a long wait between series entries.

Those plans went a tad awry earlier this year after a hacker illegally accessed and downloaded confidential data from Rockstar's servers that included over 90 videos of unfinished gameplay. The breach was confirmed by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier who spoke to a confidential source who described the event as a "nightmare for Rockstar." 

In response, Rockstar released a statement that it was "extremely disappointed" with the data leak but clarified that it intended to continue working on GTA 6 as planned. This week's trailer will be our first peak at what those years of work have culminated in. 

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Netflix has been making a big push into gaming the past few years, and last month rumors popped up that Grand Theft Auto could come to the platform. It turns out those rumors were true, but unfortunately Netflix is adding the Grand Theft Auto games you’re least likely to want to play.

Netflix has announced that December 14 will see Grand Theft Auto The Trilogy come to its gaming catalog. That includes the remastered versions of Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City and San Andreas. Specifically this is the “Definitive Version” of the games that was released in 2021 to universal disdain, and we at Tom’s Guide called it the “worst launch since Cyberpunk 2077”.

All three games launched with serious issues ranging from buggy gameplay to graphical issues. Social media was awash with users openly criticizing the game, and pointing out just how poor the “remastered” graphics actually were. To the point where they actually look worse than the original releases, despite the fact they were released in the early ‘00s.

The Nintendo Switch version was singled out for being particularly poor. The frame rate was known to dip below 20fps in places, and the dock’s dynamic resolution scaling made everything look like a blurry mess. It was so bad that GTA developers Rockstar had to issue a public apology, with a promise that the games’ various issues would be fixed.

Those problems have indeed been fixed, but like red wine on a white carpet the stain on the Definitive Edition’s reputation isn’t going to disappear anytime soon.

We can only assume that Netflix will have access to the best versions of all three games, so the release shouldn’t be the absolute disaster we experience back in 2021. Still, it is something to bear in mind if you are actively playing Netflix games or are interested in a new way to play classic Grand Theft Auto games.

Still with the impending announcement of Grand Theft Auto 6, and now a brand new way to play older games, it sounds like it could potentially be a very good time to be a GTA fan. Let’s just hope things don't go so spectacularly wrong again.

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If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you may have dipped your toe into the collection of mobile games available free of charge with the cost of your subscription. As well as titles based on shows like Stranger Things and The Queen’s Gambit, you’ll find a handful of critically acclaimed indie games like Spiritfarer, Oxenfree and TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge.

But this is far from the full scope of Netflix’s ambition, and the Wall Street Journal has an interesting report on what’s going on behind the scenes at the streamer as it seeks to become a big player in gaming.

According to “people familiar with the situation”, Netflix will soon offer two more mobile games based on its hit franchises Squid Game and Wednesday, and is considering more based on Sherlock Holmes, Extraction and Black Mirror.

Intriguingly, it also apparently wants to court more hardcore gaming crowds and has “discussed plans to release a game within the popular action-adventure series ‘Grand Theft Auto’ from Take-Two Interactive Software through a licensing deal.” 

That’s extremely unlikely to be anything new — and the smart money would be on GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas or even the DS title Chinatown Wars, which have all already been ported to mobile. 

It would be a bold statement of Netflix’s intentions in the space, but I can’t help but feel it’s a somewhat misguided one. After all, most serious gamers have already played the GTA games to death, and casual gamers will likely find the experience a bit overwhelming — especially when hampered by mobile controls.

Netflix’s gaming moonshot

Netflix is clearly serious about getting into gaming. We’ve already heard talk of the company testing cloud streaming to TVs to rival Game Pass and opening its own in-house games studio.

Indeed, the WSJ report notes how the current strategy of licensing games and building its own mimics the way it became a force in movies and TV: first by licensing shows people wanted to watch and then making its own. Just replace third-party shows like The Office and Breaking Bad with third-party games with Bloons and Solitaire.

But video streaming was new with no obvious playbook to follow. Gaming is different, and Netflix faces giants like Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. Remember when Google and its billions of dollars tried to muscle in on that space? It closed its first-party studios within two years, and Stadia was dead 24 months later.

There’s potentially an even larger challenge that Netflix faces too: its subscribers seem extremely apathetic about gaming, which is unsurprising when they signed up for something completely different. The report says that less than 1% of Netflix’s subscribers are playing the service’s games on a daily basis.

They’re likely to go from apathetic to downright hostile if subscription prices rise to subsidize an entertainment medium they have no interest in. The WSJ report suggests that gaming will be used to help justify future planned price rises, which doesn’t seem to be terribly well thought through. It would just create calls for a gaming-free subs package.

Squaring that circle

If I were in charge of Netflix, here’s how I’d try and unite the gaming and TV/Movie crowd.

The WSJ estimates the company has spent around $1 billion on games so far. I’d use the future budget to tap up the likes of Telltale Games (The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Batman), Quantic Dream (Heavy Rain, Detroit: Become Human) and Don’t Nod (Life is Strange) to make their excellent choose-your-own-adventure style games out of Netflix properties.

These are not only excellent games in their own right, but are welcoming to casual and non-gamers, and could lure in subscribers by promising to reveal more of the stories behind their favorite shows.

To me, that seems like a far more sensible path than trying to take on the giants of gaming directly. But hey, I’m not a Netflix executive…

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Grand Theft Auto 6 has been hinted to arrive in 2024 by publisher Take-Two, finally bringing a new GTA game after nearly 10 years. 

While Take-Two didn't explicitly name GTA 6 in a statement about its yearly earnings, the company did say it will release a number of games between April 2024 and March 2025 (this is the timeframe Take-Two’s fiscal year covers) that'll help it pull in billions of dollars.

“In fiscal 2025, we expect to enter this new era by launching several groundbreaking titles that we believe will set new standards in our industry and enable us to achieve over $8 billion in net bookings,” Take-Two explained. 

From that, we and others in the media, predict one of those games will be GTA 6; this is based on some speculation and fueled by the simmering rumors of a new GTA game. And given the numbers Take-Two is touting, it would likely need to push out a game as large as GTA to rake in the cash. 

How likely is a 2024 release for GTA 6?  

From what we have seen percolating in the soup that is GTA 6 rumors, we suspect that GTA 6 could launch in the fall of 2024. 

GTA V arrived on September 17, 2013, so there’s a tentative precedent for the game to launch in the fall months. It would also make sense, as releasing a game — even one as attention-grabbing at Grand Theft Auto — in the summer is hit and miss. Because, well, people do tend to go outside then. 

And a fall release would give GTA 6 room to breathe after the usual spate of game announcements seen in June, as well as see it arrive at a time when Game of the Year awards tend to be discussed. 

As for details on GTA 6 itself, there have been all manner of rumors, from its setting to its characters. But when some leaked footage of GTA 6 surfaced, developer Rockstar did confirm it was real. The footage showed off what appears to be a refreshed version of Vice City — GTA’s satirical take on Miami. 

We’d also expect to see GTA 6 feature multiple characters, including a female player character, which would be a first for the GTA series. And we predict combat, driving and general game action to be an evolution of that in GTA V, tapping into the hardware of the Xbox Series X and PS5, especially the latter with its advanced haptics. 

Expect more GTA 6 rumors to bubble up as the year moves on.   

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A month after giving in, the Steam Deck is everything I hoped it would be. 

But rather than helping me deal with my sprawling gaming backlog as I assumed it would be, Valve’s handheld gaming PC is actually pulling me in different directions, tempting me to sections of the backlog I didn’t even know existed after years of Humble Bundles had inflated my Steam library beyond all recognition.

So yes, I am slowly working my way through The Ace Attorney Chronicles as promised. But I’m not going as fast as I expected because I keep getting distracted by short(itsh) games just perfect for the medium. 

The latest? Rustler — or Grand Theft Horsey as it should more aptly be named.

But if you’re picturing San Andreas with horses — Red Dead Redemption 2, in other words — you’re barking up the wrong tree. Rustler isn’t an ode to the modern GTA games, but their decades-old forebears. It’s a top-down medieval romp that instantly transported me back to the late 1990s when the original GTA blew my teenage mind.

Me and my brothers must have put hours into that original GTA demo before eventually getting the full game. It gave you five minutes to commit as much mayhem as possible — carjacking fancy-looking motors, running down pedestrians and attempting to speed away from the cops. 

I say “attempting" because that car you stole invariably handled like a drunk on rollerskates, and you’d usually end up totaling your shiny new wheels against a wall.

Rustler feels just as anarchic, only with horsepower measured with actual horses — and no more than two. It’s a top-down open world where you can slay civilians, out-ride the police, and generally cause mayhem in a historically inaccurate world. 

Ye olde thug life

It’s funny, too. While the humor is extremely hit-and-miss (it undoubtedly proves that you can have too much of a good thing with its repeated Monty Python references) and often puerile, it doesn’t take itself too seriously just as Grand Theft Auto didn’t in 1997. 

It has that absurdism that the original GTA games have, as you catapult round-Earthers through the air to help them see the errors of their ways or slap a hired bard to change songs without Grand Theft Auto’s infamous car radio stations.

It’s probably not for you if the original GTA games weren’t cutting-edge in your lifetime. Like the games it's indebted to, it’s quite clunky in feel and often frustratingly difficult to control. Sometimes that adds a fun slapstick element to proceedings — other times, it’s just annoying, especially as mission quicksaving is a bit inconsistent.

Still, as Steam Deck games go, it’s pretty much perfect, even if it does suffer from noticeable framerate drops when you hit the towns. I found the end-of-game jousting sessions nigh-on impossible without a mouse, too, so had to switch to my desktop in order to add it to my completed pile. 

Still, you’ll complete the whole thing, sidequests included, in under ten hours. And the short nature of the missions makes it perfect for quick sessions in between work breaks.

Some people question the Steam Deck’s futureproofed-ness as its specs already seem to come up wanting against brand-new AAA games. For me that misses the point. I’m certain there are hundreds of low-spec gems like Rustler sitting in my Steam library just waiting to be discovered. 

Without a Steam Deck, I’d never have given them a second glance, and that makes it worth the price of entry alone.

Rustler is also available on PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.

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Update: GTA 6 release window may have just been leaked.

Grand Theft Auto VI may be one of the most anticipated games in development right now, but nobody needed more GTA 6 news this badly. 

First reported by our sister-site PC Gamer, a leaker named “teapotuberhacker” posted a mass of videos on GTAForums. Rockstar has confirmed that the 90 videos come from a test build of GTA 6. Due to the secrecy surrounding the game and the substantial nature of the files, this could represent the most significant leak in video game history. The videos are running with GTA 5 and GTA 6 source code and assets, which are any developer's most closely guarded secrets.

The videos from “teapotuberhacker” have already disappeared from many sites, but not before they made the rounds across social media. The leaker also claims to be responsible for a recent major Uber data breach, where they infiltrated Uber’s Slack channels to gain access to the company's internal systems. It appears that the hacker illegally obtained the GTA 6 footage through similar means. 

GTA 6 leak: Is it legit? 

Since this GTA 6 leak occurred, many fans have wondered if the leaked footage is legitimate. Without getting into specifics — no spoilers in this article — the leaked footage shows scenes and dialogue that do seem to fit with the general vibe of past GTA games.

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier confirmed via Twitter that the leaked footage is early, unfinished GTA 6 footage. Rockstar has also confirmed via a statement on Twitter that it did in fact suffer a major data breach, and that the footage is legitimate.

While we are hyped for the next GTA — especially after GTA 5 was a smash success — this leak potentially undermines years of work by Rockstar employees, whose digital security may now be compromised. Hopefully, we can move past this ugly incident and get some more ethically sourced GTA 6 rumors to pique our excitement in the near future.

Update: Rockstar suffers major GTA 6 leak — here's what we know.

Eight years after the launch of GTA 5, Rockstar has finally confirmed that GTA 6 is in active development. It’s hardly a sizeable revelation — a follow-up to one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed games of all time was an inevitability — but it’s still huge news. 

Unfortunately, we don’t expect to be playing GTA 6 any time soon: rumors have been swirling for months that the next entry in the hugely popular Grand Theft Auto series won’t launch until 2025. Having to wait another three years for the next entry in the legendary series would be hard to swallow, but to help pass the time we’ve begun formulating our wish list of exactly what we want to see from GTA 6.

After all, it’s been nearly eight years since GTA 5 launched on the PS3 and Xbox 360. While the game has held up remarkably well — it’s even being re-released for the PS5 and Xbox Series X this March — there are definitely several areas where the sequel can improve.

We might not get our hands on GTA 6 as soon as we’d like, but here are a few features we hope to see when that day does finally arrive, plus a few things we’d rather didn’t make the cut. 

Want: Return to Vice City

GTA 6’s setting is the piece of information that many fans are most eager to learn. If some internet sleuthing is correct, the sixth mainline GTA will see the series return to Vice City. 

Rockstar’s take on Miami was first featured in 2002’s GTA: Vice City and would make an ideal location for the next entry in the franchise. Considering both Liberty City (from GTA 3) and San Andreas (from GTA: San Andreas) have been given the HD makeover in the last two GTA games respectively, Vice City is surely next in line. 

While the original Vice City game was set in the 1980s, we expect GTA 6 to get the modern-day treatment. That’s OK, though, as there’s still plenty that the development team at Rockstar could do with the setting in the present. 

Actually, a Twitter user, who claims to be an insider, believes that GTA 6 will be titled GTA Vice. If true, Rockstar may choose to stylize the V and the I to indicate the roman numeral for the number six.

Want: More interior locations 

If there’s one area that GTA 5 is a real letdown it’s the number of interior locations offered. There are very few buildings you can actually enter, and several of the few included are only accessible via a specific story mission. 

Being able to visit a variety of interior locations allows you to feel like you’re playing in a lived-in city, whereas in GTA 5 you spend almost all of your time on the streets walking or driving past buildings that you can't actually interact with. 

Even 2007’s GTA 4 had far more interior locations than GTA 5, so this is an area that GTA 6 could really improve upon.  

Want: A single protagonist  

GTA 5 took a bold step for the franchise and experimented with three playable protagonists in the single-player mode. 

This did allow for some interesting storytelling moments, and Franklin, Michael and Trevor will always have a special place in our hearts, but we hope the series returns to a more traditional single-protagonist setup for GTA 6. 

Red Dead Redemption 2 proved that when Rockstar really focuses on a single playable character they can craft more engaging stories that feel deeply personal. We want to see that approach replicated in GTA 6. 

Plus, why not make the protagonist female this time? The franchise has never had a playable female character in single-player mode; it’s about time that changed. 

Want: A better police system 

The wanted system in GTA 5 is pretty frustrating. You can commit a crime on a busy city street or in the middle of the wilderness and within moments you’ll be surrounded by dozens of armed officers.

We’d like to see GTA 6 create a more realistic system. Perhaps if you commit a crime and there are no witnesses, the cops don’t show up at all. Whereas if you perform an illegal action while surrounded by people, the cops will appear much faster. 

The game could also take a leaf out of Mafia 3’s book, where the police were slower to respond in more rundown areas of the map.

Want: Proper side missions 

The Grand Theft Auto series has never really had traditional side missions. Most games in the series offer a range of enjoyable optional activities, from bowling with friends to illegal street races, but in GTA 6 we’d love to see some fully fleshed-out non-mandatory missions. 

GTA 5 did improve things in this area with its “Strangers and Freaks” encounters, but many of these were just short vignettes or an excuse to shoehorn in tedious collectible hunts. In GTA 6 we want to see side missions with the same care, attention and laser-sharp writing as the main story stuff. 

In fact, these side quests could even let you play as different characters, perhaps with optional missions that intertwine with the main narrative in the same way as GTA 4’s single-player DLC chapters did. 

Want: Environmental destruction 

A rumor that has recently been doing the rounds suggests that GTA 6 will have an “ever-changing” map that will be tweaked constantly by Rockstar, but we want to take things a step further. 

Let us cause our own mayhem and destruction. Obviously, it’s unlikely that Rockstar could make the entire city fully destructible, but even having specific locations that can be destroyed would be a great addition. 

Of all the wants on this list, this is probably the least realistic, but we can dream. 

Want: Stronger vehicle customization 

GTA 5 offers plenty of customization options, but most of them are pretty surface-level. Sure you can change the paint job of your favorite vehicle, but in GTA 6 we want Rockstar to really step things up. 

Let us make highly customized vehicle skins as in Forza Horizon 5. The latest installment in Microsoft’s sandbox racing series allows players to design unique vehicle liveries that can be shared online. Players have replicated everything from Scooby Doo’s Mystery Machine van to the iconic Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters. 

We want to see GTA 6 offer a similar level of vehicle customization depth. Don’t just let us choose between various shades of blue, let us make highly personalized vehicle skins that we can show off to our friends and rivals online.  

Don't want: Science fiction elements 

As GTA Online has grown in popularity, Rockstar has started to throw more wacky ideas at the wall.  

While the Tron-inspired Deadline mode was pretty fun, the inclusion of a literal hoverbike in the form of the Oppressor Mk II was pretty immersion-breaking. GTA has always had an edge of silliness to it, but it’s still a series grounded in reality, most of the time. 

The inclusion of science-fiction vehicles and weapons in GTA Online has got us worried that Rockstar might really jump the shark in GTA 6. We don’t need to be meeting a Martian or using a time machine in a GTA game. 

Don't want: A combined single-player and online 

GTA 5 keeps its single-player and online components very separate. When you launch the game you choose which mode to load up, and GTA Online is even being spun out into its own standalone due for release in March this year. 

We really like this approach and hope it continues with GTA 6. While we enjoy cruising San Andreas with friends, sometimes we just want to enjoy a more structured story in single player. 

GTA 6 needs to cater to both online and solo play. Mixing the two into a single persistent world sounds like a recipe for disaster. Hopefully for GTA 6, single-player and online are still treated like separate modes. 

Don’t want: Setting outside of the US

A setting outside of the U.S. often appears on GTA wish lists, but we’re going against the grain here. 

Put simply, Grand Theft Auto is America. Every single game in the series, bar a London-based expansion pack for the original GTA, has been set within the U.S., and for good reason: the series is a merciless satire of American culture and should remain that way. 

Don’t just take it from us. Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser told The Guardian in a 2013 interview that GTA was intrinsically tied to the U.S. and that if Rockstar did ever make a crime-based open-world game set outside of America it probably wouldn’t be within the GTA series.   

After many rumors, Rockstar has officially announced Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, a remaster of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas all in one package. 

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is slated for PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC, with Android and iOS ports set to land land in the first half of 2022. This is all good news for GTA fans, but it's left me thinking where the heck is the Grand Theft Auto 4 remake or remaster? After all we know GTA 5 is getting a next-gen remaster, so I'd like to see its Liberty City predecessor get the same treatment.

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The Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition will include graphical improvements and "modern gameplay enhancements," which is welcome news as the games are clunky to control by todays standards. The improvements will still "maintain the classic look and feel of the originals," according to Rockstar.

Interestingly, Rockstar will begin removing existing ports of the original 3D titles from digital storefronts. This could be to prevent buyers from accidentally buying a previously ported version thinking it's a part of the new remastered trilogy. 

And for those still playing GTA Online, Rockstar will start bringing in more loot to commemorate the original 3D titles. 

Still, I can't help but wonder why GTA IV was not included in this remastered collection.

Why we need GTA IV remastered

For some reason, Rockstar has not given much porting love to 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV, and that's a real shame. Yes, the game isn't as wacky as earlier entries, or the immortal GTA 5, but GTA 4 brought with it a more serious and dramatic look at the immigrant experience. 

In it, the main protagonist, Niko Bellic, an Eastern European former soldier, lands in America in pursuit of the American dream. His visions of America are quickly stunted when he realizes his cousin isn't the big shot he made himself out to be. What follows is a much more real portrayal of the immigrant struggle in America, and how cutthroat Liberty City, modeled after New York, can be. 

Actually, GTA IV on PS3 was my first 3D grand theft auto experience. I was unaware of all the cheat codes and eclectic characters fans had grown accustomed to in the previous entries. And for that, I can understand why GTA 4 isn't the most beloved in the series. 

Where GTA 5 is a satirical take on the vapid Instagram-fueled performance art of the Los Angeles elite, GTA 4 doesn't feel like satire at all. It's definitely exaggerated, but it seems that Rockstar took a lot of care on not denigrating the struggles of poor immigrants trying to make it in America. And as the child of immigrants who too were abused by employers or had guns pulled on them while working in convenience stores, I feel there was a definite relatability in Niko's struggle. 

GTA 4 stands out from other Grand Theft Auto titles. It felt like Rockstar wasn't making a larger commentary about American society, but wanted to instead focus more on the systems that make moving up in this country so cutthroat. How the lack of certain safety nets and pure reverence for the dollar above all else can make people do things they normally would not. 

And while GTA 4 may not feel as relevant today, with widening wage gaps and a shrinking middle class, it probably wouldn't be a bad time to revisit the pre-recession Liberty City of 2008. 

As someone who related more to the story of Niko Bellic over GTA 5's Michael De Santa, a GTA 4 remaster, I feel, will be warmly received by fans. It could be a good primer before GTA VI, whenever that game comes out.

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