More than a decade after Grand Theft Auto 5 launched on PS3 and Xbox One, a trailer for the long-awaited sequel is almost here. Earlier this month, Rockstar Games announced that its first trailer for the next GTA will be released in early December. The Game Awards just so happen to be taking place on December 7, so that’s one more reason to tune in. But is there a chance that the actual release date for Grand Theft Auto 6 will be announced?
Last week, a screenshot started making the rounds on Twitter. As spotted by Rockstar Universe (@RStarUniverse), a user reached out to the UK retailer Argos to ask about preordering Grand Theft Auto 6. They were told that the game would be available to preorder as of December 12, 2023, a date which was “confirmed to us by the distributers [sic].”
We have no way of verifying the original message, but it’s all we’ve got.
Rockstar Universe tried to reproduce the interaction by reaching out to Argos’ customer service. They were told preorders would go live once the game was announced. So, in other words, they were unable to obtain the same information.
Even if the information is accurate, and Argos does plan to allow customers to preorder Grand Theft Auto 6 starting on December 12, that doesn’t necessarily mean Rockstar will announce a release date any time soon. After all, some stores let customers put money down for games as soon as they’re announced. It was possible to preorder Metroid Prime 4 on Amazon earlier this year despite the fact that Nintendo hasn’t mentioned the game since 2019.
Obviously, take all of this with a grain of salt, but it raises an interesting question: How far along is GTA 6 in development? In February 2022, Rockstar said that “active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well underway.” Is there a chance that the game could be just a few months away from going gold? Are we getting GTA 6 in 2024? Or will we have to wait another year or two to actually get our hands on it?
Whatever the case, we should find out more in the coming weeks.