Emma Rosemurgey
As Grand Theft Auto VI unofficially takes the title of the most anticipated video game of all time, fans are counting down the months, weeks and days until its planned release in May 2026.
Right now, the hotly anticipated title is locked in for release on 26 May next year, following Rockstar's decision to push back the original 'late 2025' promise.
But while Rockstar and Take-Two bosses have doubled down on the release date in recent months, there has been chatter in the gaming community of more delays expected to be announced in early 2026.
It's important to note this is all hearsay and nothing has actually been confirmed, but speculation has been mounting ever since a well-known gaming editor claimed that Take-Two Interactive will reconfirm the release date later this year, before announcing another delay in February.
Advert
Insider Gaming editor Tom Henderson made the claims on his podcast, and the rumour mill has been spinning ever since - especially since he was right about the previous pushback.
Meanwhile, trusted reporter Jason Schreier from Bloomberg urged people to be a little more suspicious back in May when he said: "There's no guarantee that May 2026 is a sure thing."
And, as doubts start to sink in for disappointed fans, some have noticed that just four days before the planned GTA 6 release, Disney will be releasing the eagerly awaited The Mandalorian & Grogu movie, which will land in cinemas on 22 May, 2026.
What have the two got to do with each other?
Advert
Well, not much, except Disney is known for not intentionally clashing its big releases with other huge titles. Do they know something we don't, or is it just a hunch?
Either way, Disney is unlikely to want one of their biggest hitters' opening weeks to clash with hundreds of thousands of people being glued to their gaming devices for the foreseeable future.
It comes after GTA forum user GameRoll, who previously revealed Lucia and Jason's last names, said Chapter 5 of the game is in 'development hell,' with large portions of it needing to be cut and reworked.
"I have no proof of any of this information other than it's all come from the same exact source who told me Jason and Lucia's last names," they wrote. "It is not a direct source. They claim to be the friend of a Rockstar developer."
Advert
If a delay is coming for GTA 6, Henderson has suggested it could be more likely to be October 2026, while Playstation leaker Millie A, who has a pretty successful track record, has claimed there are currently 'internal talks' about the release date being put back to September 2026.