We recently had a brand new look at Grand Theft Auto VI, which looks absolutely mesmerizing. It’s been a long wait for the game, and one that’s now going to take even longer after it got delayed to May 2026, with the game originally scheduled to launch later this year. It appears that Grand Theft Auto VI has been cooking for a long time though, as a former Rockstar developer has confirmed that development for his team started back in 2018, right as Red Dead Redemption 2 development was starting to wrap up.
The former Rockstar environment artist posted a reaction and analysis to the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer that shocked us all, and it’s in the opening he states that he worked on the game from 2018 all the way through to 2023, and his team started work once they’d concluded their Red Dead Redemption 2 work. Now that he’s been off the project for two years, he describes it as “fascinating” to look at the final results of the project, looking “different” from his time at the studio thanks to its new impressive lighting.
Now that we know development has been ongoing since at least 2018, we can look ahead to May 2026 when the Grand Theft Auto VI is slated for release and say that the next GTA entry has been in active development for at least eight whole years. We know that publisher Take-Two has been intentionally slow with their marketing so as to not drum up a level of hype that can’t meet, but with eight years development time, we’re sure Rockstar has a generational surprise in store.
Are you surprised that Grand Theft Auto VI has been in development for so long, or does this line up with what you expected? Let us know in the comments down below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more gaming news and GTA coverage.
