Today brought the bombshell news that Rockstar has delayed Grand Theft Auto 6 until May 2026, a pushback of approximately half a year on perhaps the most anticipated game the industry has ever seen. Some fans were inconsolable, Take-Two's shareholders needed the smelling salts, and my immediate reaction was, simply, god we won't be playing this thing on PC until 2027 at the earliest.
Before the delay was announced, Take-Two had been saying Grand Theft Auto 6 was on-track for release in fall 2025. But ever since the first reveal it's refused to announce or even confirm a PC version. Grand Theft Auto 6 is confirmed for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and nothing else.
The gap between GTA 5 and GTA 6 also means that the gaming landscape itself has changed. PC has not traditionally been a priority for Rockstar: GTA 5 launched in September 2013 on consoles, but it wouldn't come to PC until April 2015. Even this was something of an industry hangover. As Rockstar North veteran Obbe Vermeej put it:
"Initially the consoles were a much bigger market for a game like GTA. They just got into the habit of doing consoles first. There used to be way more money in the console versions. Now that that's changed, hopefully the PC version will be closer behind."
Vermeej's explanation does make a lot of sense. GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas always felt like one of the major reasons to own a PlayStation 2, and two decades ago games were still mostly sold in boxes. But now PC is a much more dominant force and boasts an installed base of players that, frankly, no console could ever dream of: one recent estimate says there are 908 million PC players. They might not all have a rig that can handle GTA 6, but plenty will.
Even Take-Two head honcho Strauss Zelnick admits the winds have changed, and basically said the same as Vermeej. PC is a "more important part of what used to be a console business" not least because of ongoing elements like GTA Online still boasting "enormous ongoing engagement."
So at least we can confidently say that a PC version will happen: GTA 5 consistently remains one of Steam's most-played games, and thanks to having both a standard and premium edition is somehow in the global top 20 sellers list twice.
But Rockstar hasn't exactly rushed to take advantage of that. The expanded and enhanced version of GTA 5 was released for consoles in March 2022, but took fully three years to make its way over to PC.
I've got two big concerns about GTA 6 coming to PC. The first is that Rockstar and Take-Two really can afford to take their sweet time on this: everyone knows it's going to be the biggest game on the planet from day one, and probably break every sales record going. If GTA 5 is any indication, it's also planned as a living experience that will last well over a decade. Which means that 26 May 2026 is the current release date, but don't go all surprised Pikachu if Rockstar decides it needs a little longer.
The second is that, even if GTA 6 makes that date, Rockstar is being coy about a PC release for a reason, and that reason is probably that it doesn't even want to think about it until the console versions are in perfect shape. GTA 4 took a mere seven months to come to PC in 2008, but ever since then Rockstar's marquee titles have seen gaps of 13 months (Red Dead Redemption 2) and 19 months (GTA 5) before appearing on god's own platform.
It's almost unimaginable but, if GTA 6 makes its new release date and that kind of form is maintained, we might not even be looking at 2027. It's not what anyone wants to hear, but something like a 19-month gap here would push GTA 6 PC into early 2028, almost three years out. Rockstar just delays games a lot.
PCG's EIC Phil Savage said around the time of GTA 6's reveal that he couldn't see the PC version "stretching into 2027," but a year-and-a-half later it's looking like that might be optimistic and, right now, feels like the most likely scenario to me. This is Rockstar, and it does what it likes.
At least when the PC version of GTA 6 does appear, it'll be the best and shiniest version of the game. But today, right now? That feels like very little consolation.
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