GTA 6 release date probably won't be delayed again, says Take Two's CEO

(Credit: Rockstar)

• 🤔 Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has stated he doesn't expect GTA 6 to be delayed beyond the current May 26, 2026 release date

• 📆 In a recent interview, Zelnick noted that Rockstar usually delivers on announced release dates – they have traditionally kept to firm dates in the past for the most part

• 😅 He also went on to say that the delay amounted to “less than six months” from originally intended

• 🍂 The game had previously been scheduled for a 'Fall 2025' release window, according to the first trailer

We recently learned that GTA 6 had been delayed to May 26, 2026, but the good news is that date isn't expected to slip any further.

According to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick in a recent interview with CNBC, GTA 6’s delay was “pretty short” from the original planned release, which was previously promised to be 'Fall 2025' after the first trailer aired back in December 2023.

Zelnick went on to state that, “Generally, when we announce a date, we're able to hit that date”. Rockstar has a pretty good track record of delivering on its promised release dates, even if a game is initially delayed. One of the only recent examples of that not being the case was the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S version of GTA 5 slipping from November 11 2021 to March 2022.

In the interview, Zelnick also noted that the delay amounted to “less than six months”, highlighting that Rockstar may have initially targeted a November or December release date for the title, although that is purely speculation.

The second trailer for GTA 6, which was released as a surprise on May 6, reportedly makes for the “biggest video game launch of all time”, with nearly 500 million views in 24 hours. The trailer itself was entirely captured in-game on a base PS5 system, too.

Rockstar seems to be having a busy time of it, given that both GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption 2 could get new releases for the latest generation of consoles, including Nintendo Switch 2 in the case of Red Dead Redemption 2.

• Up next: Switch 2 OLED is being 'pushed' by Samsung after partnering with Nintendo

Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.