Many gamers are eagerly awaiting the announcement and release of GTA 6. However, although there have been suggestions previously that the game could appear sooner than anticipated, it seems that the latest data points to a significant delay before the next generation GTA title emerges.
Most notorious
Of all video game franchises, GTA is probably the most notorious in the world. Virtually every gamer is familiar with this range, even if they have never played a GTA title. GTA 5 was a phenomenal success for Rockstar, achieving over $3 billion in revenue. And with GTA Online still both popular and profitable, it is clear that the developer has produced a revenue stream that is extremely durable.
This is hardly likely to motivate Rockstar to rush out the next GTA title, considering that GTA 5 is still making significant amounts of cash for the studio. Furthermore, Rockstar has been concentrating on the production and development of Red Dead Redemption 2, with the Wild West game also a massively important title for the software house.
Big revenue
With GTA online having achieved over $500 million in downloadable content alone, there is little need for Rockstar to rush out the next GTA title. GTA 6 may have to wait due to pragmatic considerations, with the developer unlikely to bring out a title too rapidly that kills the profitable GTA 5 online system.
When GTA 6 does arrive we can expect the going to take a leaf out of the book of GTA 5, though. Rockstar has persistently updated this game, and even recently released a raft of new updates, including a new game mode. Clearly, a reasonable number of Rockstar employees are still engaged with the GTA 5 title, and this means that it is now difficult to transfer resources into the development of GTA 6.
While reports from close to the developer have indicated that it is at least tinkering with a few ideas internally, it seems likely that very little solid work has been done on GTA 6 as of yet. The amount of development required for GTA 6 will mean that they work required will be off the charts compared to any other game, maybe that Rockstar will need to focus resources on this title, and make a concerted effort in development.
Delay inevitable
Considering that it is currently working on Red Dead Redemption 2, and still tweaking the GTA Online universe, this means that the appearance of GTA 6 in the foreseeable future is hardly likely. And this reality comes into even sharper focus via some of the ambitious ideas that are being linked with this next generation GTA 6 game.
It is believed that a vast map will be included in GTA 6, and this could encompass every city and location that has appeared in previous GTA titles. This would result in a scope for GTA 6 that is beyond the scale of virtually any video game in history, and this would obviously necessitate massive commitment from Rockstar.
There has also been the unlikely suggestion that every previous protagonist from the GTA universe will appear in the GTA 6 game as a playable character. This seems rather unlikely, but what is certain is that Rockstar will not put out another derivative title when do GTA 6 emerges, and will be absolutely focused on delivering a new experience and a revolution in the GTA concept.
FPS focus
Interestingly, it has also been suggested that there will be a major improvement in the first-person shooter aspect of GTA 6. Some unlikely reports indicated that Rockstar would make the game FPS only, but this seems extremely unlikely based on previous titles. What is far more plausible is that the control system involved with the FPS aspect of GTA 6 will be tweaked, meaning that players will have a more fluid experience with the next-generation title.
Another major area of consideration for Rockstar will be next-generation consoles. Both the PlayStation 5 and next gen Xbox machine could be available by the time that GTA 6 has been developed, and naturally the software house will want to embrace these state of the art machines, particularly for a revolutionary game such as GTA 6.
This will pose further logistical problems for the game, and it is worth remembering that GTA 5 appeared on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 well before the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. So we can reasonably expect there to be a delay before the GTA 6 title is released, particularly if Rockstar intends to have a non-staggered release across the current generation and the future console.
Virtual reality
The developer could also embrace virtual reality with GTA 6, which is an exciting prospect, but one that will also be development-intensive. Of course, Rockstar has never included virtual reality in any previous GTA release, and developing a viable system will undoubtedly take up a significant amount of development resources.
Other major features have also been linked with the game, with an extended online universe expected, alongside some fantastical features. Time travel has already been linked with GTA 6, and while such left-field suggestions will probably turn out to be inaccurate, we can be quite confident that Rockstar has several surprises up its sleeve.
All in all, the idea that GTA 6 will arrive in the next 12 or 18 months is entirely fanciful. We can expect this game to take several years to develop, and it is extremely unlikely that both the PlayStation 5 and next-generation Xbox consoles will arrive before the Rockstar video game.
