The last few days have been really big for GTA 6 news, as after months of speculation and rumors about the GTA 6 release date, we've just got our most concrete idea yet for when the game will actually launch.
As T3 reports, this release date info comes courtesy of Rockstar's own financials, with a respected industry analyst deducing from them that gamers should expect "a likely GTA 6 launch in FY24".
That would mean, if accurate, that GTA 6 is currently two years away from being released.
Now, on face value some gamers may take that news with dismay, as that will mean we will have all waited over a decade for the successor to GTA V. However, for me at least, I couldn't be happier.
Why? There's a few reasons, actually. Firstly, GTA 6 has been reported to be in development hell and, well, we've all seen what happens when a major, much-hyped new game is released too early just so money can be made. Cyberpunk 2077 I'm looking at you. A 2024 GTA 6 release date will mean that Rockstar release the game in a complete, non-borked state.
Secondly, by releasing the game a few years into the next-gen console lifecycle, gamers are likely to get a true next-gen experience from GTA 6, with Rockstar having years to get used to squeezing every last piece of performance out of the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
I think this latter point is especially important because, being candid, my big fear with GTA 6 was that Rockstar was going to try and release it early enough in the PS5 lifecycle that they could also target the existing PS4 market with a cross-platform release, all so they could try to expand the game's market.
If you ask me that would of have been killer for GTA 6 as it would of seen the game held back in terms of scope just so it could run on the outgoing PS4 hardware. Either that or the game would be as unplayable on PS4 as Cyberpunk 2077 was when it was released. Released this way, though, GTA 6 would almost certainly fly to the top of T3's best PS5 games list, along with the Xbox equivalent.
So, yes, while in an ideal world GTA 6 arriving this year or even next year would be great, I'm more than happy to wait, as that way hopefully we will get the true next-gen Grand Theft Auto we've all been waiting for. And, well, in the meantime it's not as if GTA fans are left empty handed, as GTA V's online service just keeps going from strength to strength.