Red Dead Redemption 2 proves GTA 6 delay is a good thing

After months and months of speculation, the news is finally here - and it’s bittersweet. Rockstar Games has announced the launch date of GTA VI, and while it’s great to know when we’ll finally get our grubby little mitts on the game, it has been delayed into 2026 - 26 May 2026, to be precise. Now, before we shed too many tears, let's look at why this could be a good thing, and I’ll touch on why it’s bad too.

First things first, giving Rockstar Games more time to polish and shine the game is important. GTA VI is due to be the biggest game in the company's history, in more ways than one. Both physical size and audience support will see GTA VI as perhaps the biggest video game launch of all time, and Rockstar Games, along with parent company Take-Two, won’t want any rough edges. It has to be perfect.

Now we have a launch date, will we get a second GTA VI trailer soon?

Look back to Red Dead Redemption 2, which was also delayed not long before its supposed launch window. In fact, it was delayed three times, twice internally, and then publicly when the game shifted from “the first half of 2018” to “26 October 2018”. Back then, Rockstar Games expressed a need for more time to polish the game, and when it eventually saw the light of day, it became held up as a masterpiece. The game still sits on a 97% score on Metacritic, with both critics and fans adoring every second of the game.

If a delay is needed for GTA VI, you can bet that what emerges will be another masterpiece of storytelling, action, and world-building. It worked for Red Dead Redemption 2. Alright, we didn’t see it before the delay, but I’d wager that those extra months elevated the final product to be one of pure brilliance.

Rockstar Games

The delay can also be seen as a positive for other publishers, and give other games a chance to shine, including those published by Take-Two. The company has both Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country coming this year, and shifting GTA VI will give those games time to breathe. Of course, it makes financial sense too, as those aforementioned games can make money for fiscal year 2025, with GTA VI propping up the fiscal year 2026.

This gap in the year’s releases will also allow games from other developers and publishers to thrive. Ghost of Yotei, for example, could see more players yearning for open-world adventure, now that GTA VI has fallen off the radar. And many publishers will now know to avoid May 2026 if they want their games to shine outside the shadow of this colossal release.

Seeing the game delayed is only going to upset fans, especially those who have been rabid for any information over the past year. It’s been almost a year and a half since the first trailer for GTA VI dropped and since then, we’ve had radio silence from Rockstar Games. This delay likely explains why; there’s a strong chance Rockstar didn’t feel confident enough in what it had to produce a second trailer, especially as it needs to show gameplay, rather than more cinematics.

Rockstar Games

If there was even an inkling that the gameplay wouldn’t represent the product it wanted to deliver, we were never going to see it. So, it’s good that the teams have longer to cook, and produce a game worthy of the hype it has gathered.

There are more downsides to consider, beyond the upset and frustration felt by the fans. Both Sony and Microsoft were likely banking on the game shifting hardware over the holiday season. There are leagues of casual gamers who won’t have jumped into this generation of consoles yet, and GTA VI could have been a catalyst to selling more hardware.

There are also the financial forecasts to be aware of, which may not trouble many fans, but developers and studios bank on. For months, we’ve seen industry analysts commenting on how beneficial GTA VI was due to be for the industry on the whole, bringing in billions of dollars into an industry so keen to keep the line going up. Now that the release has shifted to the next fiscal year, it will leave somewhat of a black hole in the financials of 2025, which could have a knock-on effect on development teams, generally.

Rockstar Games

Just because GTA VI is being made by Rockstar Games, for the likes of Take-Two, it doesn’t mean that the industry as a whole doesn’t benefit. The influx of new gamers and the worldwide attention a series like Grand Theft Auto brings to this corner of the entertainment landscape can’t be denied. Financial forecasts will have been written up, knowing the waves that GTA VI would cause. Hopefully, the fallout from this shift won’t impact others too harshly.

Fans will, understandably, be devastated. We could look at it with wry, perhaps cruel humour, and laugh at those who were booking time off work to play the game, or those who have sat on Reddit for months leaning into theories, but really, it’s sad that those who felt a palpable excitement for a game are now left disappointed. Sure, the game will be better for it, and those players will swoop in and spend millions when it finally launches, but the air will be filled with sad sighs over the coming days.