GTA 6 is real – Grand Theft Auto 6 in "active development" confirms Rockstar

It finally happened! At long last Rockstar has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto 6 is now in "active development" and the new game is "well underway". What a glorious day. 

Rockstar officially made the announcement via its own blog post, where the developer revealed that GTA V will launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X on March 15th, 2022. Grand Theft Auto Online will arrive on the next-gen consoles simultaneously. The game was already scheduled to arrive sometime in March but has now been given a firm release date. 

GTA V originally launched in September 2013 and has gone on to ship over 155 million copies worldwide. Speculation has been rife for years that another entry was in the works, with Rockstar's own financial results potentially pointing to a GTA 6 release date. 

Either way, to finally have confirmation of GTA 6's existence is huge and will no doubt be one of the biggest stories this year. 

"With the unprecedented longevity of GTA V, we know many of you have been asking us about a new entry in the Grand Theft Auto series," wrote Rockstar in a message. 

"With every new project we embark on, our goal is always to significantly move beyond what we have previously delivered — and we are pleased to confirm that active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well underway. We look forward to sharing more as soon as we are ready, so please stay tuned to the Rockstar Newswire for official details.

"On behalf of our entire team, we thank you all for your support and cannot wait to step into the future with you!"

Back in April 2020, a Kotaku report mentioned that the next entry in the GTA series was "early in development". Fast forward two years on and does this mean we might see a trailer later this year? For reference, the original GTA V trailer debuted on November 2nd, 2011. 

Looking at when we might get a release date and October is the most common month Rockstar likes to release GTA games, going off its history. While its most recent release was the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition on November 11th, 2021, the core mainline GTA games paint a different picture. 

See below for the main GTA release dates:

• Grand Theft Auto – October 21st, 1997
• Grand Theft Auto 2 – October 22nd, 1999
• Grand Theft Auto III – October 22nd, 2001
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – October 29th, 2002
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – October 26th, 2004
• Grand Theft Auto IV – April 29th, 2008
• Grand Theft Auto V – September 17th, 2013

After the GTA Trilogy remasters launched, a number of users across the web found an unidentified house within a hanging photo on the wall of the Lil’ Probe’Inn in San Andreas. The house is not thought to be featured in any current GTA games, according to the sleuths over on the GTAForums, fuelling speculation that this is the first image from GTA 6. Hopefully, we'll find out whether is true or not sooner, rather later. 

To keep up with all the latest news, rumours and everything else concerning Grand Theft Auto 6, head on over to T3's official GTA 6 hub for the latest information.