According to various reports swirling around the internet, Grand Theft Auto 6 is in production. It’s no surprise that people are hard at work at the next iteration of Rockstar’s flagship series and billion-dollar franchise, but that doesn’t mean we can’t feel a little tingle with news, either. According to HypeBeast, GTA 6 was originally to be set in Tokyo and the outlying areas, but when Rockstar scouted the locations necessary, they felt there was a disconnect with the “culture” of GTA (likely the satirical subtext of the series) as well as difficulty adapting Japan’s roadways to the game. So, considering GTA V started production in 2009, was released in 2013, and really didn’t see it’s true power until it was released for next-gen systems in 2014, it’s safe to say we won’t be seeing GTA VI until about 2020, or at the end of this console life-cycle.
I could be totally wrong with this prediction, but this makes sense for multiple reasons, with one of the biggest being the unannounced game that will be Red Dead Redemption 2. It’s no secret that Red Dead 2 (it probably won’t be called Red Dead 2) is going to have an announcement dropped on us soon, with a fall 2016 or maybe spring 2017 release at earliest. That release date – once it’s announced – will play directly into GTA 6′s eventual unveiling.
This is all conjecture, but Rockstar typically tiers their game releases with certain tech introduced into each game, then perfects it in the next. (I hope this means Red Dead Online, but this is a GTA article, not a Red Dead article.) Red Dead 2 will probably be a hybrid of last-gen and next-gen tech, before, as the reports say, GTA 6 will take advantage of a brand-new engine. This was pretty much how the tech lifecycle was established through GTA IV, Red Dead, and GTA V releases on last gen hardware. So, there’s no reason to believe Rockstar would change their extremely successful ways.
Moving back to release dates, Red Dead Redemption was announced in February of 2009, and released (after a brief delay) in May of 2010. GTA V was announced in October 2011 then missed its early 2013 release date to eventually be released in September of 2013. The time they put between games is consistent throughout their history (beginning last generation). The huge, open-world, tentpole games are probably looking at a 7-year turnaround and are released in tiers. So, since it’s been 6 years since Red Dead Redemption, we should get a Red Dead 2 announcement/release within the next 18 months, then GTA VI announcement in 2018 with a release (after a slight delay) in 2020.
But where will it take place if they’ve nixed Tokyo? Mobster-run Chicago in the 1940’s? Or a visit back to Vice City?
(Via HypeBeast)