Dreamcast is rarely thought of as the start of anything. It was the full stop on Sega's reign as a hardware company, the console that died as PlayStation 2 thrived. But it was also, Rockstar says, the birthplace of the era's defining PlayStation game. You know, the one your mum heard was about killing prostitutes: Grand Theft Auto 3.

The story goes like this: GTA's developer, DMA Design, had just opened a new office in Edinburgh after a decade in Dundee. Change crackled in the air. The '90s were ending, and all around DMA the game industry was transitioning to three dimensions. The young team behind an early 3D game named Body Harvest believed they were ready to do the same with GTA.

Yet the studio's old guard was unconvinced. The team had already experimented with tilting the camera a little in GTA 2, but weren't sure it was possible to go further. A simulated city, navigated at breakneck speeds in whatever direction the player chose? Surely not in 3D.

"We had a bit of pushback from them," recalls Rockstar North co-studio head and art director Aaron Garbut. "So we did a tech demo of a city environment on the Dreamcast with cars driving around and characters walking the streets. We got it working over a period of weeks to the point where you could steal a car and drive it about, then we got it in front of Sam."

Sam Houser was the executive producer of Take-Two's new publishing label in New York, which had rather audaciously named itself Rockstar Games. He'd been a backer of GTA since its earliest days, egging its team on as they embraced player criminality and transgression. Now he was more than keen for the series to take its next revolutionary step.

"Sam has always been the voice of the player," Garbut says. "He has always encouraged us to go further, to take risks, to make every game our best yet and never to settle. He has also given us the support, the room, and the flexibility we've needed over the years to get things where they need to be. He's still that person for the team now."

The GTA 3 team were galvanised by the Dreamcast demo, basic though it was. It became a source of inspiration and a focal point for their ambitions. "We knew what we were doing in 3D and were young, arrogant, and naïve enough to feel like it was easy and exciting," Garbut says. "We just knew how far we could take things. We could see the impact of an urban environment in 3D and were filled with ideas first and foremost about how we could bring it alive. That was our initial focus – building the toys and playset, making a world that functioned as well as we could make it, a living, breathing city."

From the previous games came the premise: the arresting idea of being an antihero, a criminal who worked for even worse criminals. GTA had always had multiple mission-givers, albeit at the other end of a phone. And its developers had already invented Wanted levels, not to mention their antidote, the Pay And Spray shop. The formula was there.

Electric dreams

But the GTA 3 team consciously rejected the arcade-like elements that had come before – in particular, the running point total for destruction that Garbut describes as "pinball scoring". In an immersive 3D world, those abstract touches no longer seemed to fit. Conversely, DMA leaned into the natural sense of cinema and emotional connection that came with a 3D camera. "We didn't really approach it like a sequel," Garbut says. "We weren't slavishly looking at how the earlier GTAs had done things. We worked in broad strokes and without referring too much to them."

Some of GTA 3's greatest development challenges were the fundamentals we take for granted in open worlds today. As Garbut points out, DMA didn't have any contemporaries working with densely populated urban environments.

"The density was the difference," he says. "There were simpler games – driving games set in urban worlds but without too much interaction – that were designed to traverse at speed." Though Garbut doesn't name any, 1999's Driver springs to mind.

"Then there were denser games like Zelda that did amazing things but spread it out or split it across empty spaces and denser dungeons," he continues. "We didn't split things into nice manageable, loadable chunks, we didn't spread it out with empty areas, we didn't design it to only work at speed or to explore in detail on foot in small areas. We were trying to offer it all in one experience, and to make it feel as alive as possible."

Chop shop

Players of the time were gobsmacked by the way GTA 3's world was constantly streamed into being, just outside their vision. Well, except for the rare occasions when a wall only appeared in time to tear the bonnet from their Banshee. It's a system that Garbut clearly remains deeply proud of, all these years later.

"The art team broke the world apart by hand in the best way to squeeze all we could into memory while getting it off the drive fast enough," he says. "The code team built an elegant streaming system and we got as granular as writing the files to the DVD in specific orders to keep areas of the world together physically on the disk. It's a testament to the talent and ingenuity of the team that we made this work."

The decision represented a huge risk, but in the end the results spoke for themselves – Liberty City rendered at great distances, across moody bays and packed urban thoroughfares, and did so seamlessly, without long loading screens. "Getting it right effectively removed a lot of limitations for scale and detail," Garbut says. "We could build what we wanted as long as the area around the player would fit in memory and we could get it off the DVD drive fast enough."

If GTA 3 was a living world, then DMA Design was the hospital crash team tasked with keeping it breathing, against the odds. "You have to ensure the system can cope with a random pileup round the corner exploding at the same time you are also trying to run an intense mission," Garbut says. "It's all about managing the chaos and the competing systems rather than just focussing on what you see. Keeping the world alive and allowing real interaction with it is one of the big challenges with open world games."

New car smell

The making of GTA 3 established the methodology that Rockstar North, as the developer is known now, still uses today. The studio always begins with the place and then, once it's fit to live in, moves up one layer to the toys. In GTA 3's case, the toys were the cars – the aspect of the game players would spend more time with than anything else.

"Seeing the world come alive through these vehicles, that's when I remember starting to feel things come together," Garbut says. "Every so often a build comes along with a feature you've been discussing or planning forever – it's normally rough and only there when you squint a bit. But it's there. Everything shifts, the world you had been working in changes and now this new thing has made it better or worse. On some projects at some points, it feels like that happens every day. GTA 3 could be like that."

With the addition of cars, GTA 3 changed overwhelmingly for the better. The team imbued their vehicles with physics that were both buoyant and dramatic, making even downtime in Liberty City gripping.

"This was a long time ago so seeing cars behave physically was not the norm," Garbut says. "I remember spending a good few hours skidding the car around and watching its suspension bounce on kerbs. Seeing that in our world, then seeing the variation in tuning with trucks, sports cars, and the like, it was inspiring. We had the toys we needed."

Garbut evidently adores the process of making games, and in particular these moments of punctuation that spark ever more extraordinary feats – the single flaming car which triggers a cascade of explosions that eventually ends in the downing of a police helicopter.

"The work of one team changes, motivates, and pushes the next team to take it and run with it," he says. "It's a lovely whirlwind of creativity."

For Garbut's art team, the sprawling 3D city was a canvas on which to paint their vision of New York. This city wasn't the real-life home of Rockstar's producers in the US, but a semi-fictional place pieced together from afar.

"At this point I'd only been there a couple of times," Garbut says. "There was no internet in the studio at first, there was no Google Maps. I just had a little box of 35mm photos a couple of us had taken on a trip there."

Old York

Instead, DMA's reference material came from old films and television. Liberty City mimicked not the glamour but the gloomy mundanity of urban life – soggy streets, grey concrete, dark water, and litter. It was an approach that played to the strengths of PS2's limited fidelity, capturing mood rather than detail.

"We wanted to lean into the grime, the rain, the weather," Garbut says. "We had also made a call to add a dynamic weather system and time of day, and this helped leverage that. It felt right for the kind of story we had, the kind of characters we had, and the way we felt New York had to be from growing up watching it on screen."

It seems very likely that the whole GTA series owes its cartoonish satire – the warped prism through which it has long viewed America – to this literal and critical distance. While success has brought LA and New York within easy reach of Rockstar North's developers, the studio has carefully cultivated its unique perspective in Edinburgh.

"Right from GTA 3 our focus was always on creating the impression of the place we were building over the reality," Garbut says. "Back then there was far less connection in the world digitally – the sheer volume of content and accessibility these days has blurred the line so much that I don't really feel like a cultural outsider in the same way any more, but what it did I think was force us to rely on the US we knew from television and film. It was more about an exaggerated impression, the feeling of the place. It gave us more choices and more control in some ways, and I think it served us well."

Rockstar's storytelling has come a long way since the release of GTA 3, to the point where writer Dan Houser's departure last year felt like a serious blow to the company. But even Liberty City's Scorsese-style drama, while broad and daft, served an important purpose.

"It's quite simple compared to how we work these days," Garbut says. "It's lacking any real refinement, but there's a charm to it and a consistency. I'm proud of what it did. It let us figure out a lot of things, it taught us what we could do better and with Vice City we were already on the path to do that. There were certain choices – a silent main character, for example – that we moved away from quickly, but we have always been good I think at re-evaluating and moving forward."

Concrete tower

The story of Claude and Catalina was a blueprint. So, Garbut says, was GTA 3 as a whole. There's little in GTA Online today that can't somehow be traced back to this strange, grey game. Its foundations were so firm, in fact, that its sequel was released to critical acclaim just one year later. You might argue that Vice City is the most successful reskin of all time, though that description does a disservice to the power with which Garbut's art team evoked the '80s, using pitch-perfect costumes and coloured lighting.

"We are building on the path we started on GTA 3," he says. "We are building on that game and evolving it every day, to this day. We carry all that experience and expertise, the stuff that is impossible to replicate that is down to working together forever, to knowing the people you work with and what they know, what each person brings and how to get the best from them."

Long before Rockstar North was a household name, Garbut went to art college. There he studied fine art, and learned that drawing, painting and sculpting was all about 'roughing it in' – getting the basic structure right so that the artist can refine over the top. He sees GTA 3 in those terms.

"The 'squint a bit and it looks kind of finished' sort of idea," he says. "It's how I've always approached both building our game worlds and the games themselves. GTA 3 was as resolved as we could make it at the time, but for today's standards it's simple and rough. Things have come so incredibly far, the detail and depth and sophistication, the interplay of the complex systems we build these days. Squint a bit, though, and it's still the foundation we have built on and I love it for that."

Our GTA 6 guide details everything you need to know about the story, gameplay, and world so far! Or, check out our best GTA games list for what to play while you wait!

GTA 6 leaker Cyberleek has once again called it quits after their meme coin not only failed to meet the $30 million market cap goal meant to trigger the release of a purportedly playable build of the game, but flamed out entirely.

In a series of posts to their website later shared online, Cyberleek insists that the coin crash wasn't their fault. Rather, somebody else dumped their coin stock, "everyone else sold, and CL was blamed for the crowd's dump."

"The token was always a donation, never an investment," the meme coin merchant argues. "No returns promised, none implied. Rugpull talk comes from people who never opened the chain. Mostly YouTubers. Do not trust them. They have no idea what they are talking about."

Instead, you should trust the anonymous architect of a double-crash crypto grift explicitly designed to profit off of stolen property by siphoning transaction fees.

With profits dry, Cyberleek's coincidentally decided not to release details or footage of GTA 6's ending either. "It was considered," they say. "It would punish [GTA 6 publisher] Take-Two greatly – but ruin the experience for the gamers, who did nothing wrong."

"Take-Two was punished enough," the leaker decides. So, "the ending stays unpublished." To prove that they actually have all of this material, Cyberleek points to the latest batch of leaked footage, which allegedly came "from the final missions, out of context, revealing nothing."

Seemingly looking to fend off investigations into their identity or actions against their accounts, Cyberleek claims to have a "dead man's switch" ready to unleash "story spoilers" – which, to me, seems like a paper tiger so thin you could see your hand through it.

"The 30M was not reached, so no build," the leaker says with a harumph. "Sad, the negativity – and how few believe anything real is behind this," they add, again blaming "influencers" for tarnishing the reputation of their scam. "The leeks stop here. For now," they conclude.

GTA 6 now has a wealth of proper footage out in the wild, Rockstar is actively discussing the game's development with the press, and the game is finally out next month. Between the nose-wrinkling crypto grift and general leak fatigue, everyone seems tired of this whole song and dance. To quote one reply to a thread sharing Cyberleek's messages: "I'm so tired of this cornball bro."

GTA 6 took 13 years, but GTA 7 won't – Rockstar says "the tools and the team we've built during this project will allow us to do things more quickly" in the future.

With GTA 6 just over a month away from launch, Rockstar has finally started teasing what we can expect from the best part of every Grand Theft Auto game: the radio stations. The studio has revealed a handful of genre-focused stations covering major artists from across the years, and on top of the proper GTA 6 soundtrack, we're also getting a series first in the form of in-game podcasts.

You can preview six of the stations in two minute bursts right now, offering a chance to hear a bit of the DJs and brief samplers of the relevant music. There's Cocotea FM, focused on modern Latin music; Back Country Radio, which covers classic outlaw country; Afro Bank FM, offering a wide array of African music; The Chamber 106.6, blasting classic metal; Flash FM, which runs modern pop music; and Dirty South Classics, which will hit your old-school rap and hip-hop needs.

These aren't all the stations in the game – the announcement also confirms classic rock and talk radio options – but even this small selection proves that Rockstar is once again going all-out for the soundtrack. Loretta Lynn, Pantera, and Charli XCX all in the same game? That's a premium selection, right there.

"Plus, for the first time ever, Grand Theft Auto VI introduces a series of on-demand podcasts for Jason and Lucia to experience beyond Leonida's terrestrial radio," Rockstar adds, "with both radio and podcasts available to listen to in vehicles and on foot through newly introduced headphones and earbuds connected to their smartphones."

In-game podcasts are hardly a new idea – you can find examples at least as far back as Metal Gear Solid 4 – but it's notable that they're appearing in GTA for the first time here. Admittedly, it's likely not all that different from the talk radio that's been in the series for years, but it is a fun acknowledgement of just how much listening habits have changed since GTA 5 launched back in 2013.

I'm not being facetious when I call the radio stations the best part of GTA. I've always loved fake radio banter in games going back to my time playing Streets of SimCity, and Rockstar's talent for music curation has always been impeccable. So many of my memories of playing San Andreas or GTA 4 are tied to specific moments cruising through the world with particular songs blaring over the car radio in the background, and I'm looking forward to making some new ones in GTA 6.

Check out our guide to all the GTA 6 cars we know about so far if you want to know what you'll be cruisin' in.

As the wait for GTA 6 presses on, fans of Rockstar Games' beloved franchise are finding new ways to breathe life into older entries like GTA 5 – for instance by, uh, unofficially porting it to Nintendo's original Switch console.

Or, at least, attempting to. Paralympics Productions, a self-described "very serious game development studio" (yes, heavy on the sarcasm), has been working on a Switch port of GTA 5 for some time now, officially unveiling its release back in August on X.

Things have been relatively quiet – too quiet, perhaps – since, even after Rockstar cracked down on with strict new modding and porting guidelines earlier this month.

These guidelines made it clear that the studio doesn't allow ports of its games, reading, "Do not modify our games to operate on consoles, hardware devices, or other platforms where they have not been officially released by Rockstar Games."

So, in other words, Paralympics Productions' Switch port is a no-no… and Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive has finally noticed it, with project lead "Mojso" admitting as much.

"Paralympics Productions is shutting down on October 3rd," he writes in a new post. "Thank you everyone who supported us through tough times and lengthy development. I am sorry for not fulfilling your expectations and leaving you high and dry."

There you have it – GTA 5 devs caught the project-in-progress and have effectively axed it… but, as Mojso says, they could've been more harsh with their legal action.

"I am thankful for Take-Two's mercy so this is the definitive end," he admits. In other words, Take-Two didn't pursue a full-on lawsuit, it appears, perhaps opting for a warning and takedown order instead.

Mojso seems pleased with that, at least, stating in a response that he "wouldn't win in court most likely" as Rockstar has "solid grounds" and his attitude means he "can't even appeal to a jury or something like I didn't know what I was getting into."

He also explains that the port "was gonna release in the coming days" and "I wish Take-Two gave me more time," but it's all a bit too late now. And, no, he's "not releasing anything new and I'm not coming back."

As Mojso confirms, "it's truly over." It's disappointing for Switch enthusiasts and GTA 5 stans alike, but it's not exactly surprising. This isn't the first time a port was considered by eager modders, either.

GTA 5 modders got the game running on the Nintendo Switch way back in 2024 after the game's source code first leaked, so… yeah. I'm not sure it'll ever quite work out the way that fans hope, especially considering Rockstar's recent guideline changes.

GTA 6 fans replicate the $400 Collector's Box statue, and you can now 3D print your own ugly gator at home

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick had a quibble to pick during the company's annual virtual shareholder meeting GamesRadar+ attended on September 17. Sounding like bajillions of GTA 6 fans around the globe, an investor expressed frustration with Take-Two’s growing history of delays – but Zelnick squashes the suggestions that Take-Two is incompetent.

Zelnick reads the following offending question out loud during the shareholder meeting: "Many shareholders have tolerated years of delays, missed expectations, and continued dependence on a small number of major franchises. If these issues persist, does the board believe that the current management team remains the right group to lead the company, or is prepared to replace senior executives if operational performance and shareholder value creation do not improve?" The CEO agrees that if Take-Two's management team were found lacking by its board, then yes, that team would be replaced.

"I would, however, quibble with your characterization in the question," Zelnick continues. It's true that GTA 5 released in September of 2013, exactly 13 long years ago. And sure, GTA 6 has been delayed twice since it was officially confirmed in 2023, but its latest release date, November 19, is now looming. Zelnick doesn't think investors quite understand what Take-Two management had to do to get to this point.

"When this management team took over the company in March of '07," Zelnick says, "the revenue of the company was under a billion dollars. The company was under investigation by at least four government entities, had not filed annual reports in 13 months, and had not scheduled an annual meeting, despite obligations to do so. They had one major franchise in GTA. The rest of the business was losing money, and the company was very nearly bankrupt."

Take-Two's current managers pulled the company back from the edge, Zelnick argues, leading us to our current reality where "the company's revenue is guided to be between 8 and 8.2 billion dollars this year." Later, the CEO makes a point to mention "that GTA 5 launched in 2013, and unlike most titles, remained a top five selling title for 13 years. So GTA is a different kind of experience." Get with it, or get over it.

GTA 6 on PC sounds even more inevitable in Take-Two CEO's latest comments.

Rockstar has finally announced discs for GTA 6 – just not the kind you were probably hoping for. A soundtrack release called Grand Theft Auto 6: The Album will drop on November 20, just after the game itself, on CD and vinyl. The album features "34 original tracks" from a wide array of artists, including everyone from Travis Scott and Rauw Alejandro to Keith Richards and Morgan Wallen.

Grand Theft Auto 6: The Album is currently available to pre-order straight from the official site in an array of formats. You can get a two-disc CD for $20, or a vinyl collection on two transparent discs for $50. It seems Best Buy and Blood Records will each have a unique color pattern for the $50 vinyl collection, and an additional colorway will be sold through independent record shops.

There's also a $125 limited-edition vinyl collection that includes "two transparent magenta discs filled with blue liquid" and "exclusive new artwork and packaging designs that echo the iconic style" of GTA 6.

The soundtrack will, of course, also be available on streaming services, and you can already listen to six of the tracks across platforms including YouTube. I've gotta say, hearing Morgan Wallen's modern country ballad sharing space with Keith Richards' old-school blues riff and an array of hip-hop and R&B tracks is absolutely bizarre, but hey, I guess that means there's something for everyone here.

Unfortunately, while physical music sales are soaring, game publishers are backing away from physical media, and Rockstar is giving GTA 6 a deluxe physical soundtrack release while refusing to give game collectors the same sort of treatment. I guess it's nice, at least, that we'll have some portion of GTA 6's content archived on disc for posterity.

The death of physical media is having the opposite effect on me – I've fallen back in love with my disc drive in 2026.

A GTA 6 PC port is all but a matter of time, new comments from Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Rockstar owner Take-Two, suggest.

At a short investors' meeting convened earlier today, September 17, Zelnick fielded a question about Take-Two's release strategy for GTA 6. Seemingly in reference to price and production issues, one stockholder asked: "Is the shortage of PS5 Pros causing changes in delivery of PC gaming?" (As it happens, PS5 Pros all but vanished after the GTA 6 Extended Look reveal, seeming as a result of anticipation pushing many players to splurge on a beefier console.)

"I assume this is a question regarding the cadence of PC launches," Zelnick responds. "The strategy of the company is, over time, generally speaking, to launch for any platforms for which there's a meaningful audience. But that isn't always the case, and certainly, if platforms were no longer viable, we could change that strategy."

Here's the key line: "And I would note that the PC platform is becoming more and more important to our company over time."

GTA 5 certainly had a meaningful presence on PC. On Steam, GTA 5 Enhanced has over 210,000 user reviews (83% positive) and, to this day, regularly ranks in the top 20 for the store's daily active users.

This enhanced release replaced GTA 5 Legacy, which has been delisted from Steam but can still be viewed online. It has nearly 1.9 million user reviews (88% positive) and peaked at over 1.1 million concurrent players years ago, which would put it in Steam's top 10 for all-time peaks.

Between the two editions, SteamDB trackers estimate GTA 5 has sold 50 to 90 million copies on PC – a very meaningful slice of the 230 million copies sold to date, even with conservative assumptions.

GTA 5 Legacy was released on Steam in April 2015, a few years after the game's September 2013 console launch. Speculatively, GTA 6 may see a similar gap, upwards of 12 to 18 months, before a presumed PC port – long enough for console players to be happy to buy it again, you might argue. Not me, though. I'd never argue that.

Previously, Zelnick stressed that GTA 6 is skipping PC at launch to focus on the "core consumer" on consoles, not because of a rumored PlayStation exclusivity deal. "Historically, Rockstar's gone to console first," he said.

Zelnick's stopped just short of confirming a PC release for GTA 6, but a man leading a company that loves money surely isn't going to leave that much of it on the table, especially at a time when PC gaming is showing more growth than other core platforms.

GTA 6 isn't coming to PC at launch, but not because Rockstar doesn't "care about PC," says GTA 5 producer: "If you're working on that, you're not working on something else."

GTA 6 fans will not allow a peaceful nudist resort in Florida to be nude in peace. They tracked down the real-life location, which would appear to be in Rockstar's crass open-world after doomed crypto scammer Cyberleek showed off a similar naked palooza in gameplay clips this August, and now its owner is ready to pull a GTA 5.

Cypress Cove Nudist Resort in Kissimmee, Florida looks to be represented in GTA 6 as a pleasant retreat with a stocked bar, blue pool, and more penises than you could count – though Cyberleek tries their best to be destructive in their leaked footage that ends in a naked bullet hail. Before that, GTA 6 protagonist Jason is only passively criminal, leering at strangers with a pair of crystal-clear binoculars, which I imagine isn't what most people want to see when they have their nipples out. GTA 6 fans make this known in their fake five-star Google reviews of Cypress Cove, which are glowing, despite their in-character references to Jason and his wandering eyes.

Many of these reviews seem to have been deleted as of writing, but Cypress Cove left at least one up as a warning. That review says, "Had a great time until a man pulled out his binoculars." But this was the wrong thing to say to Cypress Cove – which also claims GTA 6 trolls are petitioning the business for money in order to delete their reviews.

"SPAM / EXTORTION REVIEW," the nudist resort labels it. "For anyone wondering about the suddenly recurring references to 'Jason Duval,' 'Lucia,' binoculars, a pool, firearms, and other suspiciously similar details — those are references to Grand Theft Auto VI. Yes. A video game."

Cypress Cove continues, "These reviews appear to be part of a coordinated series of fabricated posts using GTA VI references and attaching them to our actual business. They were then followed by a request that we PAY MONEY to have the reviews changed or removed."

The business vows: "We will not pay. We will not negotiate. We have documented the reviews and the request for payment. This activity is being reported through the appropriate channels." It continues to warn GTA 6 hopefuls that, while "we appreciate the commitment to the GTA storyline, [...] Cypress Cove is located in Florida – not Leonida."

"Unfortunately," the nudists conclude, "our marketing budget also does not contain a line item for 'internet ransom.'"

"The owner definitely wasn't happy about the comments," correctly observes a Reddit thread on the topic. Screenshots show other five-star reviews that reference "what happened on August 24," the day Cyberleek shared that footage of Jason killing everyone at the nudist resort in GTA 6, and subsequent warnings to "beware of the guy named Jason Duval." Cypress Cove has the same response to all of it, "SPAM / EXTORTION REVIEW."

"A nudist resort DENYING exposure??" says one incredulous Reddit comment. But I think I understand why a friendly nudist resort for relaxed hippies in Florida wouldn't want to be associated with an illegal video game leak that shows a man murdering innocents from the edge of its pool. Even for an R-rated location, it isn't brand safe.

"They already view us as a people who can't fight back and don't care if we're chained up," writes one purported nudist in the subculture's Reddit, who is horrified with Rockstar's horny representation of people that simply want to feel the wind on their butts. "We need to make it apparent to everybody just how inaccurate this parody truly is. If we can't unite, we're already dead."

So, there are some people out there who would gladly defend Cypress Cove's honor against GTA 6 miscreants. They might encourage fake reviewers to turn off the laptop, take off their cloth tops, and enjoy the real Florida sunshine before GTA 6 glues everyone and their underwear to their gaming chairs on November 19.

GTA 6 extended reveal caused a surge in PS5 and Xbox Series X sales, analysts say – now imagine the response if consoles didn't cost an arm and a leg.

When Arthur Morgan contracts tuberculosis near the beginning of Red Dead Redemption 2, you're supposed to feel sad. Arthur's a good guy with a troubled past, and he's the hero of the story. Him getting a death sentence right at the start of his journey is all bad news, but from here on out I'll only be able to react to his increasingly labored coughing fits with disgust, because now I know actor Roger Clark was actually hacking up a phlegm-filled lung in real life while recording some of those scenes.

Asked by YouTuber and games journalist Cade Onder if Arthur Morgan's coughing fits were taxing on the actor's throat, Clark says those scenes were "not as bad as you'd think" because they were spread out over five years and "if ever there was a really bad coughing scene, we'd always save it for the end of the day." That's good, but it turns out there was some serious method acting going on beyond the scenes that will forever alter how I react to Arthur Morgan's illness.

"In five years, there's plenty of colds and there was a lot of data that we got that was pretty damn genuine," Clark says, confirming that he would purposefully record dialogue when he was sick with colds, lending an authenticity to those coughs that only a real-life viral infection could bring.

"I'd be like, 'hey, I got a cold, let me get in there," and they're like, 'OK' ... nice, good bit of phlegm."

Grossness aside, I have to say I admire Clark's work ethic. When I'm down and out, all I want to do is lay in bed and watch Seinfeld reruns, but Clark's first instinct is to think about making Arthur Morgan sound as convincingly sick as he possibly can. That commitment paid off in an incredibly absorbing performance, even if I'll be playing Red Dead Redemption 2 while wearing a medical mask from now on.

GTA 5 left Rockstar feeling "slightly nervous" about Red Dead Redemption 2 as devs worried fans "were going to be bored" by only having one protagonist to play as

It's nearly impossible to nail down any one feature or mechanic that defines a Grand Theft Auto game, but the two specific suggestions from the title are thievery and driving. My memories of the early GTA games from my childhood, Vice City and San Andreas, are largely comprised of stealing stuff, cruising around listening to 2Pac, and mowing down innocent citizens, a horde of cop cars blaring sirens in the rearview. Driving is essential to a GTA game, so it makes sense that it's a huge focus in the community leading up to GTA 6.

What does it actually feel like in the hands? Does it have the bulk and heft of vehicular traversal in GTA 4? I remember that one being a little clunky to handle, something that was dramatically improved in GTA 5, which I've been playing a lot in anticipation of GTA 6. According to Rockstar co-studio head Rob Nelson, driving in GTA 6 is something of a hybrid of the two, combining the best of each.

Asked by TGG if GTA 6's cars are as "weighty" as GTA 4's, Nelson says:

"Only in the best way possible. The team has worked hard to maintain some of the best parts of the weightiness and feel of GTA 4, but have the accessibility of GTA 5. It has all been built up from scratch on this hardware, and they have much more control tuning drivetrain, tires, suspension, steering, all of that is getting applied to the physics model."

As no one outside of Rockstar and publisher Take-Two have had the chance to go hands-on with GTA 6, we don't have objective, unbiased impressions of any of the game's mechanics. Of course the guy in charge of Rockstar is going to say it's the best of both worlds; we'll just have to wait until November to find out if he's right.

GTA 6 launches November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X.

GTA 6 isn't flashy for the sake of it – I'm impressed at how additive every new detail feels to gameplay

We finally have some official viewership numbers coming out of Netflix's GTA 6 extended look, and wouldn't you know it, it was absolutely massive.

Rockstar took an unconventional approach in revealing its most in-depth GTA 6 trailer so far by making it exclusive to Netflix for a few hours before unleashing it elsewhere online. Temporarily locking the showcase behind a paid subscription was a potentially risky move, but it seems to have paid off in a big way, with Netflix reporting 31.1 million views in the four days between its debut and the end of the streamer's viewing window for its top 10 rankings. That made GTA 6 the most-watched title (it's categorized as a movie on the platform) across the entire Netflix library for the week in which its new trailer debuted.

For comparison, the next most-watched movie was the star-studded thriller The Whisper Man, which premiered on Netflix the day after GTA 6's deep-dive on August 28, at 23.2 million views for the week. Meanwhile, the most-watched TV show for the same week was the mega-viral true crime documentary, Death of the Pastor's Wife, which clocked in at 19 million views.

GTA 6's Netflix extended look was big big, but it's nowhere near the streaming service's biggest debut for an English-language title if we're going by first-week numbers. That honor goes to Stranger Things season 5, which netted a mind-boggling 59.6 million views in its debut week.

Of course, comparing these numbers to the amount of views GTA 6 pulls on a platform like YouTube is really like comparing apples to oranges. For example, it only took GTA 6 trailer 2 a few hours to hit 19 million views on YouTube, but YouTube is free and easily accessible for most people with phones, while viewers had to pay for and sign in to Netflix to watch the latest trailer.

Just as crucially, the way Netflix and YouTube track views is very different. YouTube simply counts a view as any click that starts a video, and for views-tracking purposes it doesn't matter if the person watches a second, minute, or hour of the video. One click equals one view. On Netflix, the streamer tallies up the total amount of hours watched and then divides that by the movie or TV show's runtime. With the GTA 6 extended look being about 27 minutes long, that means it accumulated around 14 million hours of viewing time in its debut week, which is staggering regardless of context.

GTA 6 lets players "forget it's a game" with all its choices, and that's what Rockstar lead Rob Nelson is most proud of: "It's up to you and what matters to you"

Take-Two Interactive's hunt for the person or people responsible for recent GTA 6 leaks is "rapidly evolving," the publisher says in newly revealed court documents.

Take-Two was quick to file DMCA subpoena requests for Discord and Microsoft in the wake of the initial leaks, but a new filing (via TorrentFreak) is very different in nature. Not only is it much more specific, seeking "targeted information" related to the previous subpoena and individual Discord users, but Take-Two is also requesting that it remain sealed to avoid benefitting the leakers. The previous request, which cast an extremely wide net in terms of the information it sought, remains available to the public.

"Take-Two has identified one additional Discord user and obtained additional identifying information for a previously identified Discord user, as well as additional information concerning the community servers identified in its prior subpoena for which it now seeks more targeted information," reads the new request.

Take-Two says the subpoena attachment "reveals highly sensitive, confidential information about an ongoing investigation into copyright infringement and the misappropriation of Take-Two's confidential information."

"Public disclosure of this information could compromise Take-Two's ongoing investigation and even tip off the alleged infringers as to the nature and progress of Take-Two's investigation and information Take-Two has gathered about the infringement," Take-Two writes. In a footnote, it adds that its investigation "is rapidly evolving and ongoing," and that the new subpoena request "seeks different information" than the first one.

It's worth noting that Discord's marketing director, Ryan Rigney, said as recently as August 25 that the company had yet to be served a subpoena from Take-Two, which may or may not have contributed to the language in the latest request. Either way, the court has yet to make a decision on Take-Two's request for a sealed subpoena and nothing new has been issued so far.

This does seem to suggest Take-Two's investigation is heating up very quickly as the GTA 6 leaks have only been going on for a couple of weeks. It also seems the company is narrowing the scope of its investigation down to specific people potentially involved, which would definitely make me very nervous if I had anything to do with the leaks.

GTA 6 became too realistic for even Rockstar so the devs had to cut a system for restocking Jason and Lucia's fridge to "find the right balance between realism and ease of play"

Rockstar North's co-studio head and head of development, Rob Nelson, has explained how and when players can switch between dual protagonists Jason and Lucia in GTA 6. He says there are some missions where you are forced to use a certain character, some where you are made to switch, and some where you can choose who to play as and change at will.

In an interview with Famitsu that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Nelson describes the team's design philosophy as it pertains to character switching and restriction. "Sometimes [switching characters] is limited by story progression," he explains.

"During the story, there are times where you can't switch from one character for some reason. There are some missions where you are free to switch as much as you want, but there are some sections where we want you to experience it from a certain character's perspective, like GTA 5, so we limit switching."

He goes on to explain how and why the devs limited players to Jason in a certain scene. "There is a mission that takes place in a high-rise apartment complex where you used to be able to switch freely between characters," Nelson says. "However, as ex-special forces, we thought it would be a more natural fit for Jason to be in control, so we decided to set the character. The mission is early in the game, so we thought it would be unnatural for Lucia to lead and give instructions as the two navigate the area."

Alternatively, he compares this to a mission where the player has to switch between Jason and Lucia. "There are some operations where you're forced to switch characters," he says. "In the trailer, we showed a mission where they left a bank robbery and drove away in a car. At first you control Jason firing at the police vehicles from inside the car, while Lucia is driving. Then, during the mission you switch characters, and this time the player is driving the car as Lucia, while Jason and Raul continue to fire at the cops from the back seat."

Finally, he explains parts where you can swap between the two characters whenever you want. "There are missions that are designed in this way, then, like the mission at the end of the trailer where they are under attack, there are times when you can freely alternate switching between Jason and Lucia," Nelson explains.

After 13 years, GTA 6's gameplay deep dive has been so worth the wait even my 76-year-old mother has been texting me about it

GTA 6 had even more daily-life role-playing features, like buying groceries to restock your fridge, reveals Rockstar North co-studio head and head of development Rob Nelson, but the team decided to scrap the idea so as not to overcomplicate the game's mechanics.

In an interview with Famitsu that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Nelson discusses a feature the team planned but eventually cut: dual protagonists Jason and Lucia could buy groceries at the supermarket and then restock their fridge.

"At one point during development, we were experimenting with a system that would allow you to buy groceries to restock the fridge," he says. "We had specifications for stores with groceries that you could buy and take home, and the fridge could be replenished. However, because this would have complicated the mechanics, we had to simplify it."

This would have likely been part of the GTA 6 system that allows you to gain weight, with your body, health, and stamina changing depending on how you eat and exercise. However, it appears the team thought shopping for groceries was a step too far, and opted instead for cleaner gameplay.

"We are always trying to find the right balance between realism and ease of play," Nelson explains. "Rather than just going to the fridge to grab a snack or visiting a restaurant just to roleplay, we want to give meaning to each action."

Seems living our TikTok ASMR restock fantasy is one of the only things we won't be able to do in GTA 6.

GTA 6 wanted system goes up to 6 stars and lets police track your face, your clothes, and your car

People were concerned about the quality of GTA 6's gameplay before the Netflix extended look, given the limited footage previously released. Now that those fears have been quashed, head of development and co-lead of Rockstar North Rob Nelson wants the next biggest concern, another release date delay, to be squashed as well.

In an interview with Famitsu that's been translated by GamesRadar+, the interviewer discusses how they no longer have concerns about the game's quality after watching the GTA 6 extended look that premiered on Netflix. However, the one thing they were still concerned about was whether the game would be released in November.

GTA 6 has seen two release date delays. The first was from 2025 to 2026, and the second GTA 6 delay moved the launch date six months from May 26 to November 19. However, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has remained firm on the November release date, reiterating his confidence in multiple interviews.

Nelson has now added his voice to the choir, certain that GTA 6 will come out in November. "It was our hope that people wouldn't be worried about the quality [after watching the extended look]," he says. "We're really pleased. Also, it will be released on time."

As it's expected to be the biggest game of all time, there is a lot of pressure weighing down on GTA 6 and Rockstar's shoulders. It seems that the studio is firm on its promise that we'll be able to dive into Vice City come November.

GTA 6 doesn't feature microtransactions or AI, Rockstar says, but I doubt its take on GTA Online won't have Shark Cards

Rockstar Games has reportedly shut down the idea that GTA 6 will feature microtransactions or use generative AI during its development.

On the Kinda Funny Gamecast, hosts Andy Cortez and Greg Miller share that they asked Rob Nelson – co-studio head at Rockstar North – whether there will be microtransactions in the game and whether generative AI was used during the development of GTA 6, with Nelson reportedly simply saying "no."

I have no doubts about the lack of generative AI used during development, but the lack of microtransactions is certainly interesting. It was revealed that GTA Online makes a staggering amount of almost $8 million per week, and that's undoubtedly thanks to Shark Card microtransactions for sale. It looks unlikely that GTA 6 Online will be available at launch, but this could imply that whatever the GTA 6 edition of GTA Online is could be a separate thing entirely.

We know for sure that GTA Online is on the way, thanks to court proceedings, but Rockstar has remained silent about what the GTA 6 edition of the Online mode will look like – not that it's been very talkative about the base game either, mind you. Although a later launch for an online mode isn't out of the ordinary for Rockstar, given that GTA 5 had a two-week wait before GTA Online launched, while Red Dead Redemption 2's Online mode launched in beta form a month later, with its full launch around a year and a half after launch.

I very much have my doubts we'll see a GTA 6 Online that doesn't feature microtransactions in some way, or a battle pass, or any other number of ways to monetize it for the next decade and a half. But at least we know it's not in the base game.

How long is GTA 6? About 80 hours, according to one Rockstar dev's playthrough.

If you've never been to the US, it might surprise you that the country isn't entirely made up of people in stars-and-stripes bikinis riding Harleys and twerking atop moving vehicles, alligators being fished from swimming pools, and grandmas dual-wielding sledgehammers. There's a lot of that stuff for sure, especially in Miami, Florida, which the GTA 6 setting Vice City is based on, but life in the country as a whole is a lot more nuanced and, frankly, less entertaining in general. That's why GTA is explicitly a satire, and a carefully considered one according to Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson.

"I think there's always stuff to satirize," Nelson tells IGN following GTA 6's deep-dive from Netflix. "As long as humans are humans, other humans will figure out ways to satirize what we do."

The stereotypes you see on TV, in movies, and playing games absolutely do exist here in the US, but they're usually local to different parts of the country. You'll see a very different episode of South Park, for example, if Trey Parker and Matt Stone are satirizing Portland, Oregon, compared to if they're making fun of Stigler, Oklahoma. Rockstar is picky about the parts of American life it pokes fun at, not only because of the intensely divided political and social climate enveloping the country, but because development cycles outlast a lot of topics that would otherwise be fun to satirize.

"For us, because we work on such a long development cycle, we have to not jump on stuff and instead choose our angle of approach carefully and decide what things are going to be a bit more timeless," Nelson says. "We're not a TV show coming out every week or every month. We have to be careful that what we're choosing to satirize is not going to feel dated in a weird way.

"I think those broader things are OK to satirize, but very specific political issues or memes will date fast. Even the way our characters speak we think about it a lot, so that they're not using extremely contemporary slang. Even though our characters are a certain age, they need to feel somewhat timeless."

GTA 6's hand-crafted NPCs have over 600,000 animations compared to only 55,000 animations in GTA 5

The level of visual detail in GTA 6 is staggering already, but there's going to be even more going on when you start interacting with all the NPC pedestrians that fill the world.

According to The New York Times, Rockstar said GTA 6 has well over 600,000 NPC animations compared to GTA 5's 55,000 and Red Dead Redemption 2's 300,000.

Judging from the recent GTA 6 extended look on Netflix, this will mean everyone you meet will move and react in different ways unique to them. And the only way Rockstar was able to pull this off was by dedicating an entire office in LA just to NPCs.

The goal was to make the world feel more bespoke and realistic. You won't be driving past crowds that mimic the same behavior as the people chilling on the beach. Everyone will have their own personality that will direct what they do—which might even include firing back at you if you threaten them.

Rockstar gave an example of an NPC dropping an object and immediately ignoring it in GTA 5. In GTA 6, NPCs will remember that kind of stuff because they're all hand-crafted rather than procedurally generated.

Co-studio head at Rockstar North Aaron Garbut explained how NPCs you encounter will materially exist in the world. "Every room in the game, somebody thought about this," he said. "Who's sitting where, what they're drinking, the marks that are left on the table. The pictures on the wall will have people that are in that room, with their tattoos on their arms and their family behind them. The whole thing has been made, and build, and photographed, and placed in this random room in a random building in a huge city, in a world."

All of this has me eager to pull an AnyAustin and follow NPCs around when the full game is out in November. I'm sure the main story will have its thrills, but I need to know what life is like in Leonida as the people who actually live there, not some shmuck like me who just showed up to cause some chaos.

The GTA 6 map is 3 times bigger than Red Dead Redemption 2's

Anyone who knows anything about anything knows GTA 6 is going to be a huge game. It's likely the most expensive video game ever made and is expected to be the biggest launch in entertainment history, but until now it wasn't known exactly how big it is, in terms of map size. Well, we have a rough estimate now, and it's even more expansive than anyone could have predicted.

Accompanying today's GTA 6 extended look from Netflix is a write-up from the New York Times (paywalled) in which, for the first time, Rockstar gives a pretty definitive confirmation of the game's map size: it's three times bigger than the one in Red Dead Redemption 2, folks.

If you've played Red Dead Redemption 2 for any length of time, you'll know its map feels nearly limitless and surprisingly dense for its size. To imagine something three times that size, and presumably with Rockstar's level of attention to detail, is genuinely daunting.

Of course, there are much bigger video game maps that exist already if we're talking pure square mileage – No Man's Sky and The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall come to mind immediately – but they're built by procedural generation with tons of empty space in between major hubs, whereas GTA 6's map, taking place in a satirized and fictional version of Miami, Florida, looks incredibly dense and packed with things to do and systems to interact with.

Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson has said the game feels like "a whole other world" with "a whole lot of stuff that you discover emergently that we're not necessarily directing you to through objectives or blips or icons on a map as well," adding that, "If you take a bit of time and explore you will be rewarded – a lot."

GTA 6 sounds like it's going to consume me, frankly, because I'm the type of open-world game enjoyer who needs to explore every nook and cranny to feel like I'm really getting my money's worth, so to say.

That said, Nelson's playthrough of the main campaign took him about 80 hours, which isn't too bad. It sounds like if you stick to the critical path you can beat the game in a somewhat reasonable amount of time, at least when we're talking about open-world games.

Rockstar considered giving GTA 6 four protagonists before deciding it would suck: "We worried about diluting the amount of player time with each"

You probably could've guessed this part: the GTA 6 Wanted Levels system is back to track your criminality. You'll still build up stars as police try to take you down ever more aggressively, but Rockstar's making some notable tweaks to the system in order to encourage players to play in different ways.

"The wanted system in GTA 6 requires that someone witness the crime, or an alarm needs to be set off for it to be reported to the law," Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson tells IGN. "One star is not going to be too difficult to get away from. You can see with these little icons on-screen, the police know what we're driving, so we should just jump out of the vehicle. They also know we're a couple. You could split up, and that will also help lower the police’s perception of you."

We see this demonstrated in the GTA 6 extended look, where a story mission has Jason and Lucia driving a client away from a group of very persistent cops. Here, we see that the wanted level can go up to six stars – GTA 5 had previously been capped at five stars.

Just below that, we see four icons representing how much the police recognize about Jason and Lucia: their clothes, their faces, their car, and the fact that they're together. Later in the mission, they break direct contact with the cops, turning four white wanted stars into four red ones, presumably indicating that the police are still hunting you but are not in active pursuit. They swap vehicles, removing the car icon from the screen, and watch a cop car that doesn't recognize the new vehicle roll right on by.

"We put a lot of work into how you can navigate the world, trying to make everything as smooth as possible to really encourage this type of gameplay where you are running and getting out of the car, jumping and climbing fences," Nelson says. "If you get three stars in the city, it can sometimes be challenging to get away in a vehicle, unless it's a very fast vehicle or a sports bike. Your best option is usually to do this – get off the streets and get on foot into the alleys."

How long is GTA 6? About 80 hours, according to one Rockstar dev's playthrough.

Netflix held up surprisingly well when the GTA 6 Extended Look dropped earlier today. Twitch, however, took a nosedive about an hour after, robbing everyone of the frame-by-frame analysis from their favorite streamers.

Twitch didn't specify what exactly caused the issues, but acknowledged them in a post on X: "We are aware of issues impacting several areas of our site. Our teams are working to resolve these."

Instead of a page full of stream thumbnails, the Twitch homepage threw up an error saying something went wrong. You could view the Browse page to look through all the categories, but individual streams had permanent black screens.

Chat continued to work, which made the whole thing extra bizarre as people who presumably already had the stream loaded before the outage talked amongst each other like nothing happened.

Around 30 minutes after everything crashed, Twitch pages started to intermittently load again despite the status page reporting major outages for many of the main systems, including web, chat, and video. Not every steam immediately came back up though, and I imagine things will be spotty for the next hour or so as everything gets completely resolved.

I'm sure it wasn't pleasant for anyone trying to get a peek at the GTA 6 Extended Look without a Netflix subscription. Even though Rockstar plans to host it on its YouTube channel later today, the only way to see the gameplay was to watch someone else watch it or scour the internet for someone brave enough to upload the entire thing.

Given that GTA 6 is the topic of the most popular streams on Twitch today, Amazon is probably not particularly happy that it stumbled today of all days. I'll be curious to see how it holds up when GTA 6 is out in the wild and everyone and their mother will want to hit the go live button to share the experience.

How long is GTA 6? About 80 hours, according to one Rockstar dev's playthrough

GTA 6 finally got its big (and official) extended look on Netflix today, giving fans their most indulgent preview yet of Rockstar's upcoming open-world behemoth. A bunch of different locations, gameplay systems, and characters were showcased, previewing what's sure to be a sprawling adventure jam-packed with unintended interactions, moving the benchmark for open world interactivity even further than what Red Dead Redemption 2 achieved back in 2018.

According to Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson, you'd do well to explore every inch of GTA 6's huge map. "There is a whole other world in Red Dead Redemption 2, yes. GTA 6 is very much like that," Nelson tells IGN. "There's a whole lot of stuff that you discover emergently that we're not necessarily directing you to through objectives or blips or icons on a map as well. If you take a bit of time and explore you will be rewarded – a lot.

"It's a big map, a very big map."

It being the most expensive game ever made, GTA 6 is expected to push boundaries in pretty much every way, from emergent gameplay to raw visuals to systems interactivity. In fact, Nelson says it's so expansive that no one at Rockstar has yet to really experience the whole thing, less than three months to launch. "The game is so big, I don't know that there's anybody on the team that knows all of it."

GTA 6 launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X on November 19.

Rockstar lead says GTA 6 takes NPC interactions "much further" than Red Dead Redemption 2, and its system is "returning and evolved"

You won't be the only threat walking around the streets of GTA 6 and the world will react to how loud you want to be.

In an interview with IGN, Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson says the team wanted to recreate the fragility of living in a world like Red Dead Redemption 2's lawless West in GTA 6.

"In previous games, you're quite overpowered in the world compared to everyone else apart from the cops, which can be fun, but not as fun, I don't think as having a world where there may be other people that have impulses on their own and act upon you," he says. "You are still powerful and capable, but you are not the only one capable of violence or the only one with weapons or the only crazy person out there. It makes the world far more unpredictable and interesting."

Nelson said it's up to you to decide how reckless you want to be, but there will be consequences, especially "when you go beyond what is necessary on a consistent basis."

He's describing what sounds like a kind of dynamic difficulty system that will keep you in check for the entirety of the game, pressuring you to play by the rules as much as you can. While I'm sure there will be a point where you have access to any kind of guns or vehicles you want—this is a GTA game after all—the people of Leonida will bite back if you provoke them.

The recent GTA 6 trailer on Netflix showed us all kinds of opportunities for you to trigger this reactive difficulty system. We saw races, robberies, and hijacking that can all go sideways if you're not careful. And we're not even talking about the ways the police can catch you just be recognizing things like your car.

Oh no, you can doomscroll in GTA 6

Among the waves of new features being announced for GTA 6 is possibly the worst thing to come out of the world in the last decade: doomscrolling on social media.

Plenty of new information has come out about GTA 6 over the last few days, and from more official sources than Cyberleek. It's been confirmed that you can get ripped or chubby in GTA 6 depending on your actions, and the upcoming entry will reportedly have a consequences system deeper than Red Dead Redemption 2's. This is all before the Netflix extended look has even been released.

An article in Dazed featuring Rockstar North's head of development, Rob Nelson, has given fans plenty to look forward to when GTA 6 is finally released in November. However, one thing we're not looking forward to is adding more opportunities for doomscrolling into our lives.

GTA 6 is notable for its dual protagonists, Jason and Lucia, who will play very differently from GTA 5's trio. The player will apparently be able to switch between the two characters multiple times within a single scene, meaning you can "cruise along the highway as Jason, or swap to Lucia in the passenger seat."

And what else would Lucia be doing in the passenger seat of a car on a long car journey but doomscrolling social media on her phone? As a satire of life in 2020's America, GTA 6 will apparently have smartphones with working social media feeds.

So if you were worried that the launch of GTA 6 would take away from your precious time spent doomscrolling social media, you can now rest easy.

"I think some of the team were a little shocked by the tabloid response," says original GTA dev: "We'd made a game that gamers, critics, and the people actually playing all thought was pretty bloody good"

The drip of GTA 6 leaks from anonymous group Cyberleek has turned into a flooding riverbed. The rush of information isn't slowing, and Cyberleek seems intent on never stopping, despite Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two, trying its best to unmask the leaker group's members. Meanwhile, a new gameplay clip from Cyberleek suggests that GTA 6 features a The Last of Us reference.

In Cyberleek's most recent clip, which was uploaded to Twitter and beyond but went down shortly after due to a copyright strike, Jason checks out a store named Game Horde while Cyberleek watermarks the screen with a message about its antagonistic leaks: "THIS IS NOT ABOUT ACTUAL DISCS. IT IS ABOUT OWNERSHIP."

If you say so. On that note, Jason seems to have approached the Game Horde building intending to expand his physical game ownership, but then he doesn't.

Instead, Jason uses binoculars like a creep to observe every detail in Game Horde's streaky windows, including the several video game parodies Rockstar snuck in for the most observant among us.

Then, around the 0:22 mark, we can see an advertisement for the fictional JS8, which impresses me with how far it's past our culture's current PS5 generation. Perhaps thinking the same thing, Jason once again pulls out his handy binoculars to better observe several titles on the store shelf, which is now right in front of his face.

The spines stuffing the shelves reveal a choice selection of games like Dark Souls parody GLORY SOULS II, Desolate Rim, whose font looks a lot like FPS Titanfall, and We Came Together I, II & III Remasters of the Remakes – a spoof on The Last of Us franchise's seemingly incurable need to renew and represent itself in front of a fresh audience.

This implied criticism is being thrown from a glass house, however, since Rockstar isn't usually ever willing to abandon its most profitable game series, either. Otherwise, it wouldn't spend a decade building anticipation for GTA 6.

Ultimately, Jason decides he doesn't want to buy that physical copy of Righteous Slaughter: Spree-For-All. He instead tries on some purple headphones before stalking off into the approaching night, where infinitely more detail – and, I'm sure, more fodder for leaks – await us.

Discord will "evaluate the validity and scope before responding" to controversial GTA 6 leaks court order, but the platform "has not yet been served."

It's been a wild few days for excited GTA 6 fans, as one very brave – you know, considering how Rockstar Games previously cracked down on unauthorized footage being shared – leaker has posted a plethora of supposed clips from the upcoming game.

In case you've missed it, Rockstar has responded in turn with DMCA takedowns against the leaker's posts, which come from a profile that links to a manifesto of sorts… one that demands better digital rights, physical copies, and claims to be "raising funds for a secret project" of sorts.

Heck, it's even caught the eye of Stop Killing Games, the video game preservation movement spurred by Ubisoft's 2014 shutdown of The Crew.

Most recently, Take-Two, Rockstar's parent company, has subpoenaed Microsoft and Discord, demanding hundreds of thousands of users' personal information, including emails, IP addresses, phone numbers, and the like… all reportedly in an attempt to track down the leaker.

According to Discord, however, this subpoena has not come through to the instant messaging platform – yet, anyway.

Ryan K. Rigney, marketing director at Discord, confirms as much over on X in response to concerns over Take-Two's subpoena and its implications for users' privacy.

"I can share an update on this," he writes. Discord has not yet been served with a subpoena from Take-Two. When we do, we'll evaluate the validity and scope before responding."

Understandably, the comments still highlight numerous concerns.

"No, you're supposed to just say no," one reads. "Wtf do you mean you'll negotiate our privacy for ONE person?" Another argues, "That subpoena wouldn't stand up to a mouse fart," explaining that "you can't blanket" so many users "to get personal information on a game of Where's Waldo without some kind of relevance for each account."

And, yeah… let's just say that folks are not happy about the prospect of such a subpoena.

There's no telling what Take-Two has up its sleeve, though – I suppose Rigney will post an update of sorts when there is one, but for now, it appears that nothing has gone through just yet at Discord from Rockstar's parent company.

Rockstar "overreacts a bit at times," says former tech lead as GTA 6 leaks continue, but it's "their job" to stop them

Most reasonable people would say charging for ad space on leaked footage from the most anticipated media launch of all time warrants a pretty strong response from the IP holder, but when it comes to Rockstar's years-long predicament with GTA 6 leaks, unfortunately there is reliable reporting that suggests that response disproportionately impacts employees with no involvement in the leaks.

According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Rockstar implemented tight security measures including a return-to-office mandate for all employees following the explosive GTA 6 leak from 2022, which added salt to the wound when more leaks surfaced last week. The new leaker causing everyone at Rockstar to lose sleep currently has yet to be identified and has threatened substantial story spoilers. Rockstar has yet to respond publicly but has pursued aggressive legal action, as is its right, in the view of former Rockstar technical lead Obbe Vermeij, who was with Rockstar from 1995 to 2009.

Over on Twitter, Vermeij used his insights as a former lead at the company to say, "[Rockstar New York] overreacts a bit at times" before adding, "But it is their job to try to stop these kind of leaks."

Never thee mind, though, as Vermeij said in the same breath that the leaks "are a nothing burger" because 90% of prospective players aren't looking around online for spoilers. "I was there during Hot Coffee," he added, referring to an incident in which a very NSFW mini-game mistakenly made its way into GTA San Andreas.

"It was a nightmare for management [Rockstar's New York offices] but didn't affect us [Rockstar North] much. The current leaks are far less consequential than [Hot Coffee] was. It looks like GTA 6 will be phenomenal and sell for the next 15 years or so. The leaks are just a tiny blip."

A tiny blip feels a little reductive considering gameplay and map details have been revealed against Rockstar's will and now story spoilers are on the table, but at the end of the day, GTA is going to GTA and there's little that could stop GTA 6 from being the biggest video game launch of all time.

GTA 6 and Red Dead Redemption 2 are "the north stars of gaming," says Gamescom chief, but they won't last forever because "most gamers aren't only interested in a single game"

The latest GTA 6 leak from Cyberleek sees protagonist Jason Duval take a trip, and a camera, to a nude night party that quickly descends into a shooting.

For all the naked NPCs in this new GTA 6 clip, more attention has been paid to the QR code-backed message laid over the footage. After nearly a dozen clips of random violence and activities, Cyberleek is now threatening to post major story spoilers.

Their message reads: "Do you want a Lucia-led prologue? CL has been evading spoilers. CL just cannot make that decision, so a poll is required, plus, to show support at least 10 gamers need to show up dressed as leeks in front of Take2/Rock* [Take-Two/Rockstar] offices holding game discs during working hours."

The new nudist party clip is, in short, a gallery of shiny hineys. Male and female NPCs dance and talk in the nude as Jason looks very closely at them through a zoomed sight. Rockstar's attention to detail is on full display, with NPCs showing a range of body types.

One female NPC seems to react to Jason's lingering gaze, saying, "You got a friggin' problem or what? What, you want a closer look?" The NPC confronts Jason and, in true GTA fashion, is quickly attacked, sparking a murder spree.

Cyberleek has been polling topics of new gameplay footage since last week despite the systematic takedown of its website and mirrors, but this latest post marks a significant escalation. We've yet to see anything of Lucia, for one, nor has the group posted significant story spoilers thus far.

With this message, Cyberleek is openly inciting gamers to demonstrate outside the offices of either GTA 6 developer Rockstar or studio owner Take-Two, seemingly to echo the group's so-called "commandments," which oppose baked-in DLC, digital pre-orders, server shutdowns that make single-player content unplayable, and the general end of physical games.

Digital rights and preservationist group Stop Killing Games disavowed Cyberleek in a statement, saying, "Using illegal means to make a point is unacceptable."

Between today's public call to action and charging upwards of $165,000 selling ad space on GTA 6 leaks, Cyberleek has done a fabulous job giving Rockstar lawyers ammunition.

GTA 6 is only available digitally, and the person or group behind Cyberleek previously claimed that the leaks would continue until Rockstar changed its position and "issued a public statement and apology with a concrete commitment to be better."

Rockstar has kept quiet about the leaks so far, though Take-Two has subpoenaed Microsoft and Discord for account details potentially connected to Cyberleek. Xbox said it is "working closely" with Take-Two and Rockstar to support its apparent investigation.

This leak incident reportedly hasn't changed Rockstar's GTA 6 Netflix reveal or broader marketing and release plans.

It's important to remember that this entire leak scheme has also seen Cyberleek push a cryptocurrency ripe for a rug pull.

Previously: GTA 6 leaks suggest Cyberleek has access to Lucia as fans become even more convinced they have Rockstar's full game in their hands.

GTA 6 developer Rockstar and publisher Take-Two Interactive aren't having good weeks. With just weeks to go until the Netflix extended look really kicks off the marketing campaign in earnest, a massive GTA 6 leak surfaced online Tuesday afternoon and revealed the full Leonida map as well as what looked to be near-final gameplay. The leaker, who goes by Cyberleek online, soon after revealed yet another leak that suggested they had access to a playable build of the game, which is really a worst case scenario for Rockstar and Take-Two in the final months to launch.

Cyberleek has threatened even more leaks if Take-Two doesn't reverse-course and print GTA 6 on physical discs instead of sticking to digital-only as is the plan right now. Rockstar in turn has issued DMCA takedowns but has yet to identify the leaker, and now as Cyberleek continually proves they'll make good on their threat, Take-Two has subpoenaed Microsoft and Discord in order "to obtain the identity" of the leaker and presumably sue them into oblivion.

Now, the reason we're here. The tweet. Xbox's chief technology officer Scott Van Vliet sent out a tweet Friday evening seemingly confirming the company's coordination with Rockstar and Take-Two on the GTA 6 leaks. "We are working closely with Take-Two and Rockstar Games to support efforts to protect creative works and intellectual property," reads the tweet.

Admittedly, the tweet is written in such a way that suggests it was reviewed and edited by a dozen lawyers and HR managers to avoid actually saying anything meaningful and specific. Is it about the subpoena Take-Two sent to Microsoft? Probably, but not for certain. Is it even about the GTA 6 leak at all? Definitely, but as Rockstar and Take-Two have declined to publicly comment on the leaks, it makes sense for Xbox to stop short of straight-up confirming their authenticity in a public forum. For now, it seems the takeaway, if there is one, is simply that Xbox seems to be cooperating with the subpoena from Take-Two, but again, that's not explicitly confirmed.

I've reached out to Xbox for comment and will update this article if I hear back.

GTA 6 leaker Cyberleek is now charging a $165,000 fee for a chance to buy ad space on additional leaks

Contrary to what your self-preservation instincts might tell you, GTA 6 leaker Cyberleek is not hiding under a rock that's under another rock that's in the middle of a rainforest with no cell phone service. They're not even taking extra precautions following Take-Two's recent subpoenas demanding Microsoft and Discord share information that might reveal the anonymous hacker's identity. Instead, Cyberleek has decided to publicly share its contact information.

The leaker is looking for advertisers. According to a new "contact" tab on Cyberleek's website, the merry group is "raising funds through community support and strategic partnerships" by selling ad space on its forthcoming GTA 6 leaks – well, if Take-Two doesn't turn it into canned peaches by then. Some of the "strategic partnerships" Cyberleek offers involve "custom-made gameplay footage tailored to specific brands (including sexual content)."

Sounds like a business venture with integrity to me; the stolen GTA 6 clips simply fell off a truck, anyway. Cyberleek emphasizes it's not demanding "a ransom where publishers pay to stop the leeks." It's just a shy boy looking for advertisers to send it a ton of Monero cryptocurrency to plaster ads across its copyright-infringing videos, so that Take-Two can more easily figure out who they are and where to put their graveyard plot.

"All pricing, terms, and deliverables are discussed privately over Session," a private messenger, says Cyberleek. "The Monero transfer serves as a contact fee that guarantees CYBERLEEK will respond to initiate the conversation."

Clicking a button to "generate contact details" displays a prompt to save your generated recovery password for Session, and then you pay the donation fee: 400 XMR (Monero), which currently converts to about $165,450.

This fee only guarantees Cyberleek will reach out to you over Session within 24 hours. The group stresses that, otherwise, advertisement "deal terms are worked out in chat," and it reminds interested parties, "You can advertise almost anything. Gambling and adult content are fine. No scams." No, I'd never think there were scams involved here. It's all squeaky clean fun with my friends – that's what handing a stranger $165,000 usually means, right?

Cyberleek's GTA 6 leaks won't change Rockstar's Netflix reveal plans, report says.

GTA 6 leaker Cyberleek taunted Rockstar today with yet another gameplay clip suggesting viewers continue throwing money at the anonymous group's crypto scheme, since "HIGHER MARKETCAP = MORE LEEKS." But while Cyberleek was perfecting its business scheme with its sixth untimely gameplay reveal, Rockstar parent company Take-Two was sharpening its knives; the owner has filed multiple subpoenas requesting Microsoft and Discord assist it in learning Cyberleek's true identity by providing user information.

Kotaku reports that Take-Two says in one subpoena filed with the Southern District Court of New York on August 20 that it's issued its Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) subpoena with the express purpose "to obtain the identity of an alleged infringer or infringers, and that such information will only be used for the purpose of protecting Take-Two's rights."

Both Microsoft and Discord have until September 4 to come up with internal records related to Cyberleek, says Take-Two, including Discord "account ID, registration email, registration and last-login IP addresses, phone number, linked connections (Google/Xbox/etc.), any associated device identifiers (MachineGuid/MSA), and content related to Grand Theft Auto (‘GTA’), Rockstar or Cyberleek from their OneDrive account."

The company is checking every bed and closet for Cyberleek, making several Discord servers part of its investigation, including CYBERLEEK itself and the server for DarkViperAU, a popular GTA 5 YouTuber. In the meantime, GTA 6 hopefuls on Reddit are complimenting the fidelity on the roadside Cyberleek recently revealed.

New GTA 6 activities, customization, and gameplay details revealed alongside 63 gorgeous screenshots.

PATCH NOTES v20.08.2026 – Fake GTA 6 clips have flooded the internet as Rockstar endures its third day of leaks, fooling many fans and reminding us how hard it is to trust anything you see online these days.

What's going on with GTA 6 and Rockstar?

• A hacker group named Cyberleek started releasing alleged clips of GTA 6 on August 18, with most taken down for copyright violations.

Why is this happening now?

• Rockstar Games announced that GTA 6 would be digital-only in June 2026, prompting widespread backlash from collectors of physical games.
• Cyberleek says it will stop leaking footage if the developer agrees to a series of demands, including a commitment to making physical editions of GTA 6.
• GTA 6 is getting a lengthy preview streamed on Netflix in the coming days, making it a crucial period for the developer.

Meta Shift

• Generative AI has made tracking game leaks even harder

An influx of fake GTA 6 leaks on X and YouTube show how sophisticated gen AI technology has become. While many can see through the charade by picking out "tells" in these fake leaks, such as odd camera movements and dodgy spelling, they are managing to fool others. Even the clips that appear incredibly high-fidelity are major AI red flags, given the photorealistic quality and inconsistent HUD detail – and there are some accounts you can find on X that appear to be teaching the public how to make fake GTA 6 clips using particular pieces of AI software.

Oddly, the only way to make sure you are seeing a "legitimate" GTA 6 leak is to look for the watermarks placed over the footage by the hacker, Cyberleek, who is using the opportunity to promote their own cryptocurrency. There is still no indication as to how or when the hacker acquired the footage. It could be from a year-old development build, according to an alleged Rockstar insider on Resetera, while other fans theorize that the hacker has stolen the footage from the upcoming Netflix special.

But the most recent leaks suggest that Cyberleek might have a playable build of GTA 6 rather than Netflix clips due to how the character appears to spell out the hacker organization's name with bullet holes.

But then again, how can we be sure of any of this? Put simply, we can't. The proliferation of gen AI has made everyone question everything. The result is that many of us are more suspicious than ever of supposed video game leaks, while less vigilant viewers might be easily duped into thinking they are experiencing something true to the actual product.

Patch Notes summary

As the GTA 6 leaks continue, gen-AI fakes are ramping up. It's never been a better time to ignore leaks, as excited as we all are for Rockstar's latest, because there's no telling how genuine any of them are. And for those who are actively trying to avoid spoilers ahead of the Netflix preview, don't worry. Cyberleek's clips are continuing to be taken down by Rockstar parent company Take Two Interactive, so if you're watching something on YouTube that's been up for 16 hours now, you are probably safe to assume that gen AI has struck again.

Related stories

The group claiming responsibility for today's apparent GTA 6 gameplay and map leak is using the publicity that's come with the leak to promote its own crypto coin, all with the ironclad assurance that "this is not a cash grab."

A lengthy manifesto from online group Cyberleek – that is, the "CYBERLEEK Edict" – spells out three "Commandments" around digital rights. In short: end digital pre-orders, end baked-in DLC which can only be accessed through additional purchases, and ensure offline-playable versions for any single-player content in online games.

The whole thing reads like an unhinged version of Stop Killing Games, and likewise takes aim at Ubisoft's The Crew, a racing game that vanished as its servers went dark despite having a single-player mode, as an example of why games should be preserved.

That manifesto also calls on gamers to help fight shadowy corporations by shelling out for a meme coin on crypto platform Solana.

"To fight this war, CYBERLEEK is raising funds for a secret project," the manifesto reads. "The specifics cannot be revealed yet; showing the cards to the big corporations would only give them time to build their defenses. Let it be absolutely clear: this is not a cash grab."

This is, of course, exactly what I would say if I, too, was not running a cash grab profiting off of attention orbiting the most-anticipated game of the year, and possibly all time.

The GTA 6 map images circulating online bear a distinct call to action for this fundraising plan: buy our crypto coin. You know, to be used in "fighting for gamers' rights."

It goes without saying that this couldn't be more suspicious. That is, until you read more of the manifesto, which is steeped in '90s hacker mystique and seemingly assembled from rejected Cyberpunk 2077 item descriptions.

"CYBERLEEK has been patient," it continues. "That patience is over. What follows are three commandments. If CYBERLEEK targets a publisher, it is because that publisher broke one. CYBERLEEK will not stop until they issue a public statement and apology with a concrete commitment to be better. Words are not enough; restitution is mandatory."

It's unclear what "restitution" is expected from Rockstar. The last hacker to take on the studio like this ended up in court and a secure hospital. Parent company Take-Two has already begun slinging DMCA takedowns online in response to this new leak, so you can bet its legal department has its ears perked right up.

"Publishers should beware. If CYBERLEEK can reach Rockstar, no one is safe. This is a message to all big corpo: behave, or be the next target," the post concludes.

I stand corrected. Now it seems even more suspicious.

How to watch the GTA 6 extended look: Netflix streaming release date and times

Borderlands 4 had a lot of trouble on PC even months after its September 12, 2025 launch date – and some players still complain about its lack of optimization – but it still sold well, so parent company Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick isn't concerned for the future of Gearbox's looter shooter franchise.

Zelnick tells IGN plainly that the game's commercial "performance has not affected our plans at all." He references Borderlands 4's ongoing Bounty Pack launches, its paid DLC with cosmetics and missions that are sometimes unpopular for how brief they are, proving "we continue to support the title. We've had plenty of incremental releases of content."

It's true – the $5.99 Bounty Pack 4: Murders and Acquisitions just came out on July 30. It includes a new Vault Hunter Skin featuring a pair of yellow, plaid pants, a new Pearlescent sniper rifle, and a mission centered on Electi faction leader Levaine – which has so far won fans over with its apparent return to vintage Borderlands style. Bounty Pack 5 launches on September 10, says Gearbox, along with a new Vault Hunter with perfect abs called Loveless, and the paid expansion Story Pack 2: FL4K and the Last Resort.

Zelnick continues, "We're totally supporting it. We're thrilled with the performance, and thrilled with the reviews and the scores." GamesRadar+'s own Borderlands 4 review rates the 2025 game a four-out-of-five stars for embodying "what Borderlands as a series is designed to do: live fast, die young, pay to be resurrected and do it all over again." Though, features editor Andrew Brown also notes its gameplay can feel "dated and at times irritating – undeniably an excellent looter-shooter, but one that requires a bit of tunnel vision to fully enjoy."

Steam reviewers are hung up on this latter point. Borderlands 4 has a Mixed review rating on the platform, with one recent critic saying, "Honestly the DLC should be given out for free as an apology for what they did to this game."

On this note, some people seem to dislike Borderlands 4 out of what they feel is their political obligation. Gearbox Entertainment Company president Randy Pitchford has, in the past, appeared to dismiss concerns over Borderlands 4's $70 price tag and dire PC performance, leading a portion of fans to develop what's basically their own post-apocalyptic faction against him.

One new Not Recommended Borderlands 4 Steam review explains by saying, "My issue isn't the game itself, it's Randy Pitchford's attitude toward the community that has supported Gearbox for years."

The player continues, "The way he responded to fan criticism came across as dismissive, condescending, and, at times, outright insulting. That's not the kind of leadership I want to financially support." But, you know, if you were looking to financially support Borderlands 4, don't forget that upcoming DLC Zelnick mentioned.

Borderlands 4 unveils final DLC Vault Hunter, a stunning tech-savvy queen fans say "looks like a netrunner from Cyberpunk,"

The rapidly increasing cost of hardware globally, largely attributed to the proliferation of AI data centers and the ongoing RAM shortages, is "not a good thing," admits Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick, but the issue could be mitigated by the takeover of low latency game streaming, he predicts.

Take-Two held its quarterly earnings call Friday morning (thanks, Kotaku), and Zelnick was asked to comment on the rising prices of hardware. He started by saying it isn't good for business, naturally, as the publisher's games still need machines to be played on, but he used the opportunity to transition into a somewhat bold prediction which, if proven true, would make expensive gaming consoles a premium option rather than a requirement to play games.

"With the advent of streaming – which we really do believe is around the corner in terms of having something that's low latency, and really works well for consumers – machines that weren't game machines before will become game machines," said Zelnick. "So, without regard to what happens in the console business, which is of consequence to us, of course, we see the overall install base as a practical matter growing materially."

"And if you believe in streaming," he says, "to be clear, we really do, and I'm happy to put a timeline on it. I think we'll be in commercial streaming mode in three years, and by commercial I mean low latency."

In Zelnick's view, game streaming isn't just a natural progression driven by exorbitant hardware costs, it's an opportunity for a publisher with some of the most financially profitable intellectual properties to expand even further into the mainstream. If one day, dedicated video game hardware isn't the necessary and expensive barrier to entry to most big games that it is today, Take-Two could touch markets that otherwise wouldn't be accessible.

"That can 10x the effective the install base," said Zelnick. "That doesn't mean we're going to 10x our revenue, and we wouldn't project that we would, because obviously your avid consumers already have access to video game machines. But I do think it creates great opportunity for titles that are broadly desirable even outside of core markets, and we do have titles like that, obviously."

Xbox, PlayStation, and PC already have plenty of dedicated cloud streaming apps, but they remain a relatively niche alternative to traditional hardware-reliant gaming primarily due to latency and stability issues. It remains an open question whether the tech will scale alongside inevitably bigger, more demanding games, but Zelnick is characteristically bullish. Ironically, Take-Two's own GTA 6 would undoubtedly be among the most challenging games to cram into the cloud format as it exists today, but we'll see how that changes in three years' time.

With GTA 6 digital only, Take-Two boss says discs "don't really make sense" – "if you're already connected, who cares if you download digitally?"

GTA Online officially got its first new Heist mission in six long years today, with the Kortz Center Heist inviting teams of four (you can solo it too, but what fun is that?) to stake out a prestigious art museum and make it a little less prestigious, if you catch my drift. The mission sounds like a fun and lucrative time, but if you're planning on hosting your friends and don't have a ton of in-game cash saved up, you should know there are some rather spendy prerequisites for doing so, and there isn't enough stolen virtual art in the world to recoup your real-world investment.

We did the math to figure out the barrier of entry to GTA Online's new heist and found it to be exorbitantly expensive if you're starting out fresh and want to buy your way in using Shark Cards, assuming you aren't working with any existing GTA+ bonuses or discounts. The reason for that is you first need a mansion to even begin thinking about hosting the Kortz Center Heist. The cheapest one is The Tonga Estate at $11.5 million in GTA money. You also need to own an art studio, which will set you back another $4.7 million, making the total minimum required to host the mission $16.2 million.

Again, assuming you're starting completely fresh, that means you'll need to buy a $10,000,000 cash card for $99.99 in real money, a $4,250,000 card for $49.99, a $1,500,000 card for $19.99, and a $600,000 card for $9.99, which equals $179.96 in actual money from your real-life bank account. With the GTA 6 price being set at $80 for the base game, that means you could pre-order Rockstar's upcoming behemoth twice and still have money leftover for a latte before you start bumping up against the price to run GTA Online's new Heist.

Of course, the huge caveat here is that you can join a friend's Heist for free if they already have a mansion and art museum, which is most certainly what the vast majority of GTA Online players are going to do. Still, it's harrowing to consider what a brand new player with no rich friends would have to shell out for the game's newest mission, especially when that same amount of money could be used to secure what's sure to be a much grander mission in just a few months twice over.

I should hate GTA 6's pre-order bonuses and Ultimate Edition add-ons, but I'm glad Rockstar seems to be avoiding the big problem with game-breaking DLC

Rockstar has fully lifted the lid on GTA Online's first big new heist update in six years, The Kortz Center Heist, releasing next week on Tuesday, July 14 for all platforms.

The next big evolution of GTA Online had previously been teased for a July release, but now we know the full details thanks to a new announcement posted to the game's official website. As questions swirl about how long it'll take for the next iteration of GTA Online to join GTA 6, The Kortz Center Heist is likely to be the final big update to GTA 5 Online and is the first official heist update since 2020's Cayo Perico. The Cluckin' Bell Farm Raid update from a couple of years back definitely felt pretty heisty, but it's technically classified as a Raid and Contact mission, making The Kortz Center the first new actual heist in six long years.

The Kortz Center Heist will be playable solo or with a four-player team, which is obviously the preferred choice here. The heist sees you and your friends link up with the mysterious Mr. Faber and his main fixer, Raf De Angelis, to stake out a prestigious art museum and steal its most valuable assets. Of course, even experienced criminals will want to do some preparation before robbing a high-end museum, and that's where the big homebase addition comes in: the art studio. To kick off the new heist, you'll get to open up an art studio property inside your mansion where you can invite and host your friends to show off all of your stolen works of art.

Once you've scoped out the museum, it'll be time to gear up and plan your big break-in, and once you're actually inside the building, Rockstar says you'll want to snap candid pictures of the exhibits to get a better idea of how to get in and out without alerting security and getting yourself capped. That'll involve "covering your tracks," "ensuring no witnesses," and "wiping CCTV footage" to ensure a maximum take.

Sound fun? Rockstar says there's plenty of room for "variability" to re-do the heist solo or with friends in the form of three new paintings to steal every week. And as always, the Kortz Center Heist will keep collectors busy with new vehicles and upgrades. Meanwhile, GTA+ subscribers will be able to get their hands on the new Grotti Veleno GT for free starting July 14, a full week before regular shmoes will get to buy it.

GTA 6 faces a potential $35 million fine if Rockstar doesn't comply with online safety laws that mean Australians would need ID to play

Rockstar developers in the UK are seeking official union recognition from the GTA 6 studio's bosses, who were accused of union busting in 2025 after firing 31 workers involved in union activity. If Rockstar devs are successful in their bid, they'll join Zero Parades creator ZA/UM in history as one of the first formally acknowledged games industry unions in the UK.

Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) Union president Alex Marshall is confident Rockstar can afford such a milestone. The organizer says in a June 30 press release, "GTA 6 has reportedly already generated more than $3 billion in preorder sales. Rockstar bosses can easily afford to sit around the table with the people whose hard work created these games, and give them a meaningful voice in their workplace."

Rockstar itself has not revealed GTA 6 pre-order revenue, and that $3 billion estimate seems to stem, at least in part, from University of Virginia assistant professor of business Anthony Palomba saying recently that Rockstar parent company "Take-Two shares rose almost 3% in early trading when preorders opened, and some analysts modeled as much as $1 billion in revenue in the first hour alone." Take-Two hasn't commented on this analysis, though the publisher is clearly expecting GTA 6 to be its golden calf – it predicts, in a recent financial report, that the game will contribute to "$8 to $8.2 billion" in sales for fiscal year 2027.

What Rockstar devs are asking for in return, says Rockstar North production co-ordinator Shanti Easton-Steel, is for executives to acknowledge "our key objectives of pay transparency, fairer crunch practices and better flexible working arrangements."

"This is a landmark moment for the Rockstar Game Workers Union, and hopefully for the industry as a whole," Easton-Steel says. "It's thanks to the hard work of so many of our members – both those currently with us and those who were fired last October – that we are now in a strong enough position to pursue formal recognition."

Rockstar and the IWGB's legal dispute over those 31 fired union members is ongoing, with the final trial set to run from September 10 to October 15, according to the workers' union.

Fired GTA 6 developer accusing Rockstar Games of union busting says playing the blockbuster will "probably just bring back too much."

There's a high chance GTA 6 will be the most absurdly detailed and densest among the best open-world games ever made when it releases on November 19. The long-awaited return to Vice City is at the centre of Rockstar Games' blockbuster, but we know we'll be getting more of the state of Leonida in the same way GTA 5 expanded its map beyond a very impressive refresh of Los Santos. Will it be shaped by DNA inherited from Red Dead Redemption 2 though?

As GTA 6 promises "more and better" of everything and to set a new bar for living and breathing sandboxes moving forward, I believe we shouldn't ignore the potential of the fictional American state of Leonida. Vice City may be the main attraction as the capital, but the thin marketing materials haven't shied away from showing us more about the natural environments and animals that inhabit the broader state itself. However, it's not enough to just have them; I hope GTA has learned from Red Dead's penchant for outdoor activities.

Lessons from the Wild West

Back in 2013, the larger San Andreas map wasn't particularly exciting. It wasn't until later updates came that more animal species and activities involving them like the GTA 5 wildlife photography challenge were added. Even then, Red Dead Redemption was where Rockstar paid more attention to nature outside crime-filled missions, and RDR2 took everything related to wildlife and its untamed areas to ridiculous levels – finding all the Red Dead Redemption 2 animal locations and completing that compendium was arguably the hardest thing in the entire game.

One of the funniest (and best if you ask me) things Rockstar did with Red Dead Redemption 2 was tricking everyone into playing what's essentially a "cowboy simulator" more often than not. Your mileage may vary, but I always felt the studio's obsession with details would lead to games with heavy simulation elements. More time and money has only enabled the developers to push things further, and while we might argue about how many details are too many details (more on that when GTA 6 releases), the truth is post-GTA 5 Rockstar has done a fine job of making its massive game worlds (including Los Santos over the years) fun to spend time in.

Not everyone was ready for the slow pace of RDR2's early hours or how meandering it can be at times, but those are signs of developers treating its world with respect and not just like a giant playground to fill with lots of content to grind through, an easy pitfall of many modern sandboxes. Though it might be argued Pearl Abyss' Crimson Desert ticks plenty of items off the Ubisoft school of design checklist, it's also managed to enchant millions with a truly dense continent full of surprises and opportunities, giving players more to do more than fighting and looting – and nature is at the centre of much of it.

As memorable as RDR2's tale of criminals in a dying West is, I strongly believe most of it wouldn't have hit as hard without the time Arthur (and John) spend indulging in everyday mundanity. It's during those sections – enforced by the game or sought by the player – that we get a glimpse of normalcy amid all the senseless violence and betrayal. Go fishing, find some wild horses to tame, complete your massive compendium of odd animals for that guy you barely know... Tens of hours can be spent engaging with places that haven't been fully invaded by man, and there's space for that experience in GTA too. Swamps and glades needn't just be different scenarios for drug runners and those the wacky hillbilly encounters no doubt awaiting us.

Finding balance

There's always the danger of Take-Two and Rockstar choosing to overcorrect based on the complaints of a loud minority, but when RDR2's success continues to impress eight years later and vast but forgettable open worlds abound, a GTA 6 that's breezier and too focused on the "criminal life" we already know well would be a mistake.

Yes, the game is about Lucia and Jason's "new life" in Vice City first and foremost, but the sandbox bar has been raised several times since GTA 5 came out, and many other studios have almost caught up.

RDR2 still feels like a unique and special beast though. Having the chance to disconnect from criminal activities and visit confirmed natural locations like the Mount Kalaga National Park is the type of thing that can elevate GTA 6. Leaning on the brand of world-building and secondary content only Rockstar (and a few others) can afford to put out on such a scale, switching to totally different genres with ease, is a rare sight. With the past having told us players appreciate getting to live digital lives at their own pace without an urgent need to clear content, I hope that kayaking and off-road hiking aren't limited to NPCs waiting to be murdered, and that birdwatching is an actual hobby I can partake in and be rewarded for. Seriously.

The older I get and the more selective I have to be with my gaming time, the more I appreciate open worlds that put their size and depth to good use. I'm always down to explore new sandboxes, but I only stick around and revisit the ones that feel truly unpredictable and alive. This means I'd rather feed alligators and go diving with sea turtles in GTA 6 than clear a hundred gang hideouts after its credits have rolled.

In this case, I'm confident in Rockstar's ability to repeat (and improve on) RDR2's balancing act. It's the only way the studio can justify all those years in development and cutting-edge visuals; Grand Theft Auto 6 must be more than just GTA: Vice City in 2026.

Here are all the latest GTA 6 activities, customization, and gameplay details revealed now that pre-orders are live!

Leave it to Rockstar. Today's reveal of the GTA 6 cover and the announcement that pre-orders will go live next week would've been news enough, but the devs have also gone and given us our best look at Vice City yet, thanks to a very brief video clip quietly added to the game's official website.

That clip offers a brief flyover of Vice City, pulling away from the downtown skyscrapers over an industrial park, harbor, and apparent apartment complexes on the other side of the bay. Most enticing about this clip are the vehicles, including an array of helicopters, planes, luxury yachts, freight boats, and more that we'll presumably be able to hijack in-game.

You can watch the clip below, or head over to the official website to pore over it in its full glory, going frame by frame with each click of your mouse wheel. I guess Rockstar knows we're all thirsty for details this far out from the last trailer, so the studio's giving us the tools we need to make the most of this one.

moving shot of Vice City in Grand Theft Auto VI

— @wario64.bsky.social (@wario64.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-06-18T15:02:10.076Z

This actually appears to be an opposite view of the same stretch of downtown Vice City that we previously saw in a screenshot last year – the ferris wheel makes clear that it's the same location. Players have already been piecing the GTA 6 map together for ages, and I suspect that they'll just about have central Vice City all mapped by the time pre-orders go live.

Those pre-orders will go live on June 25, as Rockstar confirmed alongside today's cover art reveal. That means we're finally going to have an answer to arguably the most burning question about GTA 6: just how much is it going to cost?

For all the new games of 2026 and beyond, you know where to click.

Everyone knows that if there's a group of people most accurately representative of the UK general public, it's the GTA Online player base. Of course, a video game series that prides itself on being distinctly, unapologetically American is precisely where, oh, I don't know, a department of the UK government would turn to for data on the behaviors of its citizenry. According to The Telegraph (paywalled), that's precisely what's been happening since late 2024, when the Department for Education (DfE) initiated a taxpayer funded program in which employees are paid to play GTA Online with random people on the internet to get into their heads.

The experiment, conducted by a small unit of the DfE called Policy Lab, involves government employees "[spending] time with participants in video games they played regularly" and "[experiencing] the world" with them by "observing their in-game interactions." One of the reported goals of the project is to learn "impactful insights about people's lived experience" while researchers play the game in a curated, "emotionally safe place."

Specifically, and this is particularly surreal, members of Policy Lab reportedly joined players in GTA Online and talked with them through missions including stealing from a jewelry shop, using a bomb to blow up the CEO of a company, and driving prostitutes to their clients in a timely fashion. Some key insights from the study found that members of the public "enjoy spending time at their nightclub business or on their yacht," and that some people find that "driving around while talking made it really easy."

Policy Lab researchers also reportedly learned that "meeting people virtually is especially useful for people in remote locations," and that some participants enjoyed doing things in GTA Online that they couldn't do in real life, like "running a successful in-game business."

The Telegraph reports that the project is the subject of intense scrutiny on both sides of the aisle from within the UK government. Policy Lab was founded under the most recent Conservative Party, but funding for the GTA project has reportedly continued under the Labour Party, which has been in power since 2024.

"Hard-working families will be in disbelief that their taxes are bankrolling this nonsense," said shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood, a member of the Conservative Party. "It's important that civil servants have the right skills – but playing Grand Theft Auto isn't among them. The Government must halt this absurd waste of resources immediately. Taxpayers rightly expect value for money, and Labour must ensure they get it."

Meanwhile, an unnamed government source who's clearly a member of the Labour Party, said: "This is a decades old Tory initiative that we are now looking into."

As a self-professed ignorant American, I simply don't know what to make of this. The findings gleaned from the study as reported by The Telegraph, although potentially cherry picked to support a certain political ideology, seem to hold very little significance and aren't surprising in the least.

Again, as an American, I'm certainly no stranger to seeing my federal tax dollars being used in all sorts of seemingly senseless ways, but this one is particularly baffling because there doesn't appear to be an underlying motive. It's just the government playing video games with people to learn that people like the escapism that video games provide, which has been the case since the very beginning. If anything, you'd think they'd dig into the Dark Souls community to see what's wrong with them. (I kid.)

Here are all of the upcoming video game release dates you need to know about.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is about to have a very big year with the impending launch of GTA 6 – which, depending on who you talk to, will either be the biggest video game release of all time or the biggest cultural event in all of human history. (No pressure.) For Zelnick himself, however, that surely pales in comparison to the accomplishment he's spent years preparing for: becoming a virtual WWE superstar.

Yes, Zelnick was quietly added to the WWE 2K26 roster in a free update earlier today. You won't find him mentioned in the official patch notes, but players soon saw him there in the character select screen, faintly smiling with his 77 character rating. That kind of score won't win him many matches, but apparently the crowd treats him as a babyface, flying in the face of the relationship most gamers have with the executives running AAA publishers these days.

They even licensed My Way – the Frank Sinatra song, not the Limp Bizkit track that was famously used in promotion of Wrestlemania 17 – for Zelnick's entrance. They recorded unique lines from Wade Barrett and Michael Cole, complete with terrible puns, on commentary. The only thing the devs didn't do is give Zelnick proper ring attire, instead opting to have him come to the ring in a suit.

Please don't think that I spend my days thirsting over gaming CEOs – Zelnick's presided over his fair share of layoffs, after all – but I learned a piece of trivia about the Take-Two boss years ago that has stuck with me ever since: he's really buff. You wouldn't know it from his occasional interview appearances, where he's typically covered up in a light sweater, but beneath that business casual wrapping lies the rippling muscles of someone who takes exercise very seriously. That "The Program" branding you see around his in-game entrance is a reference to his fitness group.

Zelnick revealed his 8% body fat physique to the world back in 2018, when the then-60-year-old CEO was promoting a fitness book he'd co-written. He said at the time that the photo wasn't intended as a thirst trap, but instead insisted that "the shirtless picture is an athletic picture and is intended as such."

Which is fair enough, but it's still so bizarre to see a video game executive in this kind of shape that I still think about it every time Zelnick's name comes up, something that's increasingly common here in the leadup to GTA 6. A colleague and I collaborated on this ill-advised tweet for a former employer when Zelnick's physique was first revealed to us, and I still can't let it go. I guess turning him into a pro wrestler is just bringing the whole thing full circle.

GTA 6 finally releasing won't lead to a Rockstar staff exodus, Take-Two boss expects: "We have a lot of work to do after the launch."

If you're wondering how Rockstar's managed to financially justify holding back GTA 6 through all these delays, you don't have to look much further than GTA 5. Rockstar's last Grand Theft Auto title is continuing to sell by the millions even now, over a decade later, and a new estimate puts a more particular point on just how much GTA 5 continues to sell.

GTA 5 sold 387,000 copies on PlayStation last month, contributing to a total of 1.8 million units sold on PS5 for 2026, according to Alinea's latest estimates.

That number tracks with the official estimates we get from publisher Take-Two's financial reports, where the company regularly reports about 5 million more units sold every quarter. When you account for the additional sales on PS4, PC, and both generations of Xbox, it's easy to see how that 1.8 million estimate factors in.

Alinea's May estimate runs down the full top five on PS5 for May, with 007 First Light (1 million units sold), Minecraft (788,000), Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight (757,000), and EA Sports FC 26 (411,000) filling up the spots ahead of GTA 5 on the platform.

It's a remarkable reminder of GTA 5's staying power, especially when you consider how much money GTA Online is making on top of all these unit sales. We rarely get specific numbers on microtransaction revenues, but leaks have suggested that GTA Online is pulling in something in the neighborhood of $8.4 million per week.

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has repeatedly emphasized that Rockstar's looking to "deliver perfection" with GTA 6, but it's rare for any studio to be afforded the time it takes to get anywhere near that standard. GTA 5's uncommon success has given Rockstar an extended runway, and we're now just a few months away from finally seeing what takes off from it.

Here's hoping we have another heavy hitter in the ranks of the best Rockstar games soon.

With Summer Game Fest 2026 set to kick off in just a few days, the question on everyone's lips is whether Grand Theft Auto 6 will make an appearance. It's been a year since GTA 6's second trailer dropped, and since then we've seen nothing of the game – which would have been out already, had it not been delayed to November 19. Not that I'm bitter.

Predicting Rockstar's next move has proven impossible over the years, with attempts resulting in moon cults and hopium-huffing. But with months left until launch, the developer will soon look to ramp up the sales pitch in full – meaning it will have to show what it's selling. With this year's Summer Game Fest 2026 schedule packing presentations from Xbox and PlayStation alongside the main showcase, could Rockstar enter the home stretch this week?

Back to Leonida

While Zelnick suggests we won't have long to wait for more GTA 6 news regardless, whether it will arrive at SGF 2026 remains to be seen (or denied). I'm of the opinion that Rockstar should take the initiative and go big, but the developer's crunch crackdown could motivate it to continue playing coy. Keeping milestones internal means there's less pressure to hit them, and if the release date does need to move back to avoid crunch, it should. There are also arguments to be made in keeping GTA 6's exposure to a minimum and letting the game speak for itself at launch – the greatest mark of confidence, yes, but not one I imagine Rockstar's marketing teams would be as happy with.

Frankly, trying to predict what Rockstar will do – or pinning your hopes to a certain course of action – only guarantees disappointment. However this week pans out, Zelnick seems pretty confident we'll be playing GTA 6 for ourselves come November 19 - so what's a quiet SGF amongst friends?

Was Fable really delayed because of GTA 6, or is the RPG just not finished yet?

It's tough to compete with one of the most beloved, influential first-person shooters of all time, but if there's one game that can go toe-to-toe with the original Halo, it's a faithful but spruced-up remake like Halo: Campaign Evolved. That said, according to a veteran of Halo creator Bungie, that sprucing up is precisely what makes the remake inferior to the original.

During an appearance on the Mint Blitz podcast, former Bungie design lead Niles Sankey, who was with the company from 2006 to 2015, shared his impressions of the upcoming Halo remake. Obviously, Sankey has no insight into the production itself, but he's seen the same gameplay footage we all have, and while he's impressed by the visual fidelity, he worries Halo Studios isn't seeing the snowcapped mountains for the trees, prioritizing detail over map readability.

Sankey admits the environments in Halo: Campaign Evolved "look good," but he says he's "just not the biggest fan of modern, AAA, fancy, Unreal graphics" because that level of detail can impair visibility. Some games, like Arc Raiders specifically, are visually "amazing," says Sankey, but in general he prefers landscapes where you can actually see what's going on.

"I do question the readability of some of the battlefield," says Sankey. "I think that one thing that Halo, and Halo 1 especially did a great job of, is, you could read the battlefield. You can clearly see the enemies. You can clearly see your lanes. The constraints actually make it a stronger game in my opinion, cause you don't have all this foliage everywhere.

"It's a game, first and foremost. You need to see where your enemies are. You need to see where your lanes and routes are, and that's what's most fun ... I get the sense that sometimes companies overlook that and instead are just trying to make the best graphics possible without considering the ramifications of what those fancy graphics might mean."

I don't know if it's just my aging, blurry vision talking, but I totally get what Sankey's saying here. I'm sure there's a method to creating modern, high-fidelity games without sacrificing readability, and Sankey says he hopes the "smart people" at Halo Studios will accomplish that in the final product, but I can think of a handful of extremely popular multiplayer games which I've tried playing but found challenging due to there being too much happening, and in too much detail, on screen. As for Halo: Campaign Evolved specifically, I do think enemies blend into environments at least more-so than in the original, and we'll just have to wait and see how readable the maps are at launch.

As Halo and Forza Horizon 6 prepare to jump ship to PS5, Xbox fans use new community voting tool to tell Microsoft they want their exclusives back

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick says the company's 2025 missteps with Borderlands 4 and Civilization 7 aren't a big problem in the grand scheme, and that publisher 2K is still "crushing it."

While Take-Two is in for a good year in 2026 – mainly because GTA 6 is going to make billions even if it's somehow bad – it's easy to overlook that 2025 wasn't exactly the best year in its history. Borderlands 4 released to somewhat lukewarm reception (despite solid reviews) but the game's PC port was the star of the show when it comes to that game's issues, with it only being rivalled by Monster Hunter Wilds as 2025's biggest PC debacle. And on top of that, Sid Meier's Civilization 7 reworked the series formula massively, so much so that the devs have released an update to rework it after fan feedback.

While Zelnick has previously taken "responsibility" for Civilization 7's failings, in an interview with the Game Business, Zelnick says, "I definitely can acknowledge missteps with both releases, but at the same time, these are great franchises, these are great iterations, and we couldn't be more thrilled of how the business is going broadly.

"I think 2K is crushing it across the board," he continues, adding: "If the worst you can say in a year when you've had this kind of [financial] performance is that a couple of titles did slightly less well than you would have hoped, and you're addressing whatever challenges you face and you're still generating profits with both titles… that's a high-class problem. I'll take those problems any day of the week."

He notes that "Borderlands 4 was highly successful. It will be a very profitable lifetime title. [Civilization] 7 was very successful and it will be a very profitable lifetime title," and adds that their respective challenges "are being addressed." Of course, it feels like with every single Civilization game, the new one is disliked until expansions and updates fill it out to become a favorite – at least, that's what happened with Civilization 5 and 6 – so hopefully Civ 7 will become a great game in the future.

GTA 6 finally releasing won't lead to a Rockstar staff exodus, Take-Two boss expects: "We have a lot of work to do after the launch."

As we continue to get closer to GTA 6, Rockstar and Take-Two have taken another step in reducing how many multiplayer servers players have access to. Another's been taken down by the company, with the sunsetting process already underway.

The devs behind Rage:MP, a platform offering one of the bigger multiplayer options for GTA 5, have announced that Rockstar's parent served them a cease and desist. "Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive have made it clear that FiveM is the only authorized platform for GTAV multiplayer modding, as defined in their Platform License Agreement (PLA)," the statement reads.

"In accordance with that policy, and at Take-Two's request, Rage:MP will begin a structured shutdown process," the team adds. "We are asking all server owners to wind down their operations and migrate to FiveM."

This first deadline for this process is June 1, when the publicly available list of servers is getting removed. It's advised that all server owners log in before then to make sure they retain the same level of access on FiveM once this change occurs.

Then the next deadline is August 31, wherein the lights go off on Rage:MP. Any servers not moved over to FiveM will go down as the platform disappears into digital nothingness.

If you're unaware of FiveM, it's a similar toolkit for setting up custom multiplayer within GTA Online, and it was bought by Rockstar in 2023. At risk of stating the obvious, the studio's parent Take-Two really seems to be closing ranks on unofficial outlets ahead of the sixth mainline game's arrival, as other, similar sites have gotten this same treatment.

It's a real shame, because some servers and players will inevitably choose not to move for one reason or another. Their work and that sliver of the GTA 5 experience will be gone forever, in the name of brand control. Pour one out for them, and if you're on a server on Rage:MP, make sure to get more sessions in while you can.

GTA 6 release was supposed to be today, and fans are riding the hopium for any "brief update" from Rockstar: "Let's just pray there's no more delays"

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is calling out technology conglomerates for purportedly lying about the real reasons behind mass downsizings in recent years.

In an interview with Games Industry, Zelnick tackles the issue of AI in game development, striking a familiar optimistic tone while drawing a hard line between AI-generated games and the use of AI to increase efficiency. "For those who believe you'll press a button and make a competitive game, good luck. Technology doesn't do that. Technology doesn't create. Technology enables human beings to create," he says.

For context, Zelnick says he prefers the word technology over AI "because technology encompasses AI, and using the word AI means different things to different people."

Amid global concerns of AI displacing jobs, Zelnick strikes a decidedly more optimistic tone, straight up declaring, "Technology is not going to take people's jobs," seemingly referring to AI. Now, you could point to several major players in tech who've explicitly (or otherwise) stated layoffs were the result of AI, but Zelnick says those companies aren't being truthful. Instead, Zelnick attributes those layoffs to the post-Covid correction in which companies rapidly hired to meet pandemic-fueled demand and then downsized when the industry self-corrected in the aftermath of the pandemic.

"The big tech companies who laid off thousands of people and said it was because of AI were not telling the truth," he says. "It was because they overhired in the pandemic and they were sloppy about it and they haven't addressed their headcount issues."

Specifically, Zelnick says the market is "completely incorrect" in its apparent prediction that "all SaaS companies will go out of business because of AI."

"And if the market weren't incorrect now and then, how could you invest in it? You'd never have an opportunity," Zelnick says.

GTA 6 isn't getting delayed again, Take-Two confirms, but those Best Buy pre-order rumors are bunk, marketing to ramp up this summer

GTA 6 has been delayed a couple of times already, which naturally softens the concreteness of its current release date, but publisher Take-Two Interactive has reaffirmed that the massively anticipated game is still due out on November 19 as previously revealed. That said, recent rumors that Best Buy would soon open pre-orders are reportedly false, as Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has suggested marketing for the game will begin in earnest this summer.

The latest bit of bunk churned from the rumor mill claimed GTA 6 pre-orders were going live this week at US-based retailer Best Buy, with reports citing leaked affiliate emails confirming pre-order dates between May 18 and May 21. Obviously, with today being May 21, that turned out to be untrue, but Zelnick tells Bloomberg's Jason Schreier he has no idea where the rumor even came from and suggests we're still several weeks away from pre-orders.

In Take-Two's latest presentation to shareholders, the company re-confirms GTA 6's November release date several times, with one section of the report reading: "We project Net Bookings to range from $8 to $8.2 billion, which represents 20% growth over Fiscal 2026 at the midpoint, primarily driven by the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI on November 19th, along with successful execution across our entire portfolio."

Take-Two earnings: Grand Theft Auto VI is still planned for November 19. No delay. In an interview with Bloomberg today, CEO Strauss Zelnick said he didn't know where this week's Best Buy rumors came from and that pre-orders typically start alongside marketing (which will begin this summer).

— @jasonschreier.bsky.social (@jasonschreier.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-05-21T22:49:02.668Z

In a new Variety interview, Zelnick says to expect GTA 6 marketing to really kick off in "the summertime," saying, "the next few weeks I don’t think it’ll be summertime yet, but when it’s summertime, Rockstar expects to start marketing GTA 6."

Zelnick is famously tight-lipped and media-trained not to reveal anything about a game under the Take-Two umbrella that might disrupt the company's carefully constructed marketing plan, so while these might not seem like major updates, they're significant enough in that context. That said, news coming out of the postponed earnings call was relatively light, which puts to bed previous speculation that the delay indicated something big was coming ahead of the call.

Only time will tell if GTA 6 joins the ranks of the best Rockstar games ever.

Like a lot of lost souls, I was convinced GTA 6 pre-orders would go live today, as suggested by a rogue Best Buy email last week notifying affiliates that game pre-orders would begin May 18. But the day has arrived, and as fans are getting uncomfortably used to, our chance of a GTA 6 update is looking thin.

Those Best Buy emails reportedly told affiliates the store was running a pre-order campaign through May 21, and they could earn 5% on online sales of GTA 6's physical edition pre-order. Sounds allegedly promising, right? People started guzzling hopium like it was the first cold glass of water they ever tasted, but an apparent industry insider says GTA 6 fans should put down the cup.

Instead, pull the lawn chair out and start waiting. Again. GTAForums member Graczdari_91 says in a thread about the supposed Best Buy leak, "I don't want to disappoint anyone, but internal company emails suggest that Best Buy has got it wrong and no pre-orders will be launching today. Things might change at the last minute, but I'd advise keeping your expectations in check."

GTA 6 fans are so vulnerable right now – Rockstar didn't receive any divine inspiration to be gregarious and drop Trailer 3 last week like they expected – so this single message was enough to obliterate pre-order hopes like pesticide. Looking at the way people are speaking in a popular Reddit thread discussing the forum post, you'd think Rockstar announced plans to initiate the Rapture. But no one died – just GTA 6 fans' remaining shreds of sanity.

"Today is gonna be a funeral," agrees one reply.

"One ticket to Arkham asylum please," another fan politely requests. GTA 6 hopefuls are also noting parent company Take-Two's stock prices started blasting off after the Best Buy email went out, going from a low of $222.80 on May 13 to a peak of $245.86 on May 15… and now that share price is steadily slipping the more GTA 6 pre-orders stall.

"MY TTWO SHARES," cries another Reddit commenter who I'm sure has already suffered enough.

A GTAForums admin claims they've seen the internal communication from Graczdari_91, who apparently works for a European distribution company, and it's true that "BestBuy made a mistake." We'll know for sure eventually, as time in the day keeps ticking, and GTA 6 fan tears begin to resupply the ocean.

GTA 6 hype hits all-time high as fans find more evidence pre-orders start today, but some have been burned too many times to believe it: "Better to be safe than sorry with Rockstar."