We really might be getting GTA 6 this autumn and it's nothing to do with anything announced by Rockstar or Take-Two Interactive.
Grand Theft Auto VI hype is more than real, with millions of gamers ready to spend a reported $100 (£80) on product when it is finally placed on to shelves and made available for digital download.
And while parent company Take-Two has states twice that an autumn release date is definitely on the cards for the time being, we've had nothing else in terms of detail. No date, no specific window within autumn. Nope. Nothing.
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Naturally, it's left those with even the most casual of interest in gaming wondering if a delay is still a possibility. Well, movements by other big players in the industry may have told us all we need to know about when GTA 6 is widely expected to be released.
That's according to experts that run the GTA VI O'Clock newsletter. Put together by veteran games journalist Dan Dawkins, alongside an award winning executive producer, James Jarvis, it's definitely among the most reputable when it comes to GTA 6 rumours and latest hints.
In the latest newsletter sent out this week (14 March) - and in a podcast headlined about the game release date being 'secretly confirmed' - they say that the date for GTA 6 may well be known by others in the industry. And if it's not, there is a lot of certainty as to when they think it will be - and no, there's no delay.
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It's all to do with the release of Death Stranding 2, created by world renowned video game developer Hideo Kojima.
A follow up to the 2019 debut game, it has familiar faces in the game with Norman Reedus of The Walking Dead fame doing the voice and live action of the main playable character.
The first game was an overwhelming success with the second now revealed to be coming out this summer. And that's why GTA 6 is coming, Jarvis and Dawkins reckon.
"Serial retweeter and Japanese director Hideo Kojima’s upcoming - and frankly ridiculously good-looking - Death Stranding 2: On the Beach confirmed its June 26, 2025 release date, in a lavish 10 minute trailer that you really should watch," they write.
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"Of itself, no dice. The games industry has long shifted from its adherence to ‘Winter or Bust’ release dates for major AAA games. BUT! The height of summer is a bold call, especially since Sony saw fit to release the original Death Stranding on November 8, 2019. Y’know, in Fall.
"Does Hideo Kojima know the GTA 6 release date for certain?"
They add that it isn't about Kojima necessarily knowing the exact date. More a focus on belief, and what the mood in the industry is pointing towards.
If a delay was likely, developers would be reacting to that. But they aren't.
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They write: "Game publishers don’t need to comment on when they expect GTA 6 to ship, since their actions suggest they are taking Take Two at face value, and getting their games out of the damn way."
On the flip side, no publisher would in our minds dare to risk going up against GTA 6. So even if it is delayed, autumn is going to be a no go for many devs out there.
Topics: Gaming, GTA, The Walking Dead, Entertainment
Tom Earnshaw