Grand Theft Auto VI video game delayed again until Nov 2026
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Rockstar Games said Grand Theft Auto VI will now come out on Nov 19, 2026.
PHOTO: AFP
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SAN FRANCISCO – The newest instalment to the blockbuster Grand Theft Auto video game franchise has been delayed again, this time until November 2026, its creators announced on Nov 5.
“We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realise has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve,” Rockstar Games said on X.
Release of the Grand Theft Auto VI game, also known as GTA 6, had already been pushed from late 2025 to early 2026. Rockstar said it will now come out on Nov 19, 2026.
Shares of Rockstar parent Take-Two Interactive sank more than 8 per cent in after-hours trades.
Word of the delay came on the same day dozens of people protested outside Rockstar offices in Edinburgh, Scotland, accusing the multi-billion-dollar studio of “blatant union busting” by firing 31 people.
Rockstar has accused the employees of “distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum, a violation of our company policies”.
But the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, which called for the demonstration, rejected that claim, arguing that the sacked workers were all members of a private discussion channel linked to the union.
Outlaw couple?
The newest game was originally due to be released later in 2026, with a trailer having shown that it would be set in Miami-like Vice City and would feature a playable female protagonist for the first time.
Set to Tom Petty song Love Is A Long Road, it opens with a female character named Lucia being released from prison in what appears to be a fictionalised version of Florida.
Near the close of the one-minute-and-30-second clip, she tells her male partner in crime: “The only way we are going to get through this is by sticking together, being a team.”
The pair go on to burst into a store with pistols drawn and bandanas covering the lower halves of their faces.
Fans saw the scene as confirmation that rumours of a Bonnie and Clyde-type crime couple are coming true.
Along with its wild success, the GTA series has faced criticism over its violent content. The franchise has allowed players to role play as criminals doing dirty deeds across sprawling cityscapes since its first entry in 1997.
Critics have from the beginning accused Grand Theft Auto of glorifying violence and encouraging players to engage in criminal behaviour – allegations rejected by New York-based Take-Two Interactive.
GTA players sell drugs, fight, rob, go on car rampages and more. Game-play options included assaulting sex workers and going to strip clubs, raising the ire of activists. AFP
