Years in the making, GTA 6 will be available at some point in 2025. Rockstar Games released the first trailer for the highly anticipated sequel this week, after it leaked online. As of this writing, the official trailer got more than 101 million views on YouTube, as well as over 9 milion likes and more than 736,000 comments. In a day. That’s incredible, as it shows just how massive Grand Theft Auto 6 will be.
Rockstar has a massive hit on its hands, and everybody knows it. I wouldn’t be surprised if GTA 6 becomes the best-sold game in history as soon as it launches. That’s why I think GTA 6 should be one of Apple’s biggest priorities for the Mac, iPhone, and Vision Pro. It’s the kind of event that Apple can use in its favor to make a big statement on its focus on gaming.
Back in September, Apple unveiled a mobile chip that has no rival in the industry. The A17 Pro powering the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max can run console games. Games like Resident Evil 4 that will cost $60 to play on the iPhone 15 Pros. The game will also run on iPads that rock M1 chips or better, as well as Macs with Apple silicon.
Then Apple unveiled the M3 chip that powers the new MacBook Pro laptops. The A17 Pro and M3 are same-generation System-on-Chip (SoC) versions. Therefore, they’ll both support console-grade gaming. Before the M3 Macs arrived, I said that the M3 MacBook Air would be a great console alternative, and I stand by it. Then there’s the series of M3-powered iPads coming next year.
The A18 Pro chip that Apple is developing for the iPhone 16 Pros will undoubtedly support plenty of console games, assuming the publishers bring those titles to the App Store. And I’d expect the A18 chip inside the base iPhone 16/Plus to be at least as good as the A17 Pro on the graphics side. The M4 SoC should also debut next year or in early 2025.
Then there’s the Vision Pro, launching next year with an M2 chip inside. By 2025, Apple might release a new version rocking an even better SoC. Apple describes the mixed reality headset as a spatial computer that can do more than let users immerse themselves in content. But playing console games on the Vision Pro would be a huge win for Apple.
I’d also speculate that future hardware upgrades could turn the Apple TV into a console-grade device by 2025.
What I’m getting at is that by the time GTA 6 hits stores in 2025, Apple could have hundreds of millions of devices ready to support Rockstar’s game. Therefore, Rockstar could be easily motivated to ensure GTA 6 runs well on A-series and M-series chips from launch day.
But the work has to start right now, if it hasn’t already. Apple has to do whatever it takes to get GTA 6 on its devices. Even if that means giving Rockstar a more lucrative deal than Microsoft and Sony.
This would signal to other console game developers that Apple is serious about gaming and that gamers who own Mac, iPhone, and iPad are dying to play those games on Apple hardware.
I’m saying this as someone who will probably not even play GTA 6 on their Apple devices. Though I might gift it to others. But I want to see more console games come to the Mac and iPhone rather than leaving Apple’s platform.
