When will Grand Theft Auto 6 launch? That’s the big question that a lot of game developers, fans, industry analysts, and publishers are wondering right now. And while we don’t actually have an official answer beyond fall 2025, some recent information and news has helped us zero in on a likely release date.
It’s not surprising that fans are going wild over when GTA 6, the next big entry in the long-running franchise, will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. But it ain’t just fans who have been waiting for a decade that are desperate for a GTA 6 release date. Studio and publisher execs across the industry as well as smaller devs are watching closely, as nobody wants to release a game too close to GTA 6 and get demolished by it. As a result, everybody seems nervous about announcing a fall release date for their non-GTA games. And investors and analysts are watching to see if Rockstar’s behemoth lands in 2025 or slips into next year, something that would cause a lot of industry chaos.
Okay, so with seemingly everyone wanting to know when GTA 6 will specifically launch, I’m here to provide a date. A drumroll, please…
Grand Theft Auto 6 will launch on October 25.
Probably. Or, like, right around there. Pretty close to that point. I mean I’m fairly certain that if the game doesn’t get delayed into 2026, which Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick doesn’t think will happen, GTA 6 is arriving sometime in late October. And October 25 is the last Tuesday of the month, a month in which Rockstar has historically released a lot of its biggest games. But this isn’t just a random guess based on the fall 2025 release window and Rockstar’s past game releases.
Borderlands 4 and Take-Two’s CEO
Earlier this week, 2K Games and Gearbox announced the release date for Borderlands 4. The co-op sci-fi looter shooter is set to arrive on September 23. Why does that matter? Well, Take-Two Interactive is the parent company for both Rockstar and 2K Games. So unless Rockstar Games is completely rogue and never communicates with Take-Two leadership, I’d imagine they know when GTA 6 is landing, even if it’s just a rough window. And that would likely help inform when they would choose to launch Borderlands 4.
As reported by Stephen Totilo’s Game File on February 13, there was a lot of excitement and chatter at DICE during the week due to the announcement of Borderlands 4‘s release date. Totilo reports that a “well-plugged-in attendee” that he spoke to at the industry event explained that “everyone’s waiting for Take-Two and Rockstar” to pick a release day for GTA 6. And Borderlands 4 is a signal from Take-Two: September 23 and the weeks immediately before and after it are probably safe.
Pull out a calendar and that likely means GTA 6 isn’t landing in September. Fall starts on September 22 and the next day Borderlands 4 launches. So September is out. That leaves October and November. However, historically Call of Duty has arrived in November and while GTA 6 is likely to outsell this year’s CoD sequel, I doubt Take-Two and Rockstar want that big of a game launching so close to GTA 6.
So with that in mind, and based on Zelnick sounding very committed to a fall release date, I think that points to a late October launch while Call of Duty, which is now owned by Xbox, probably moves into the middle of November. Remember, Xbox wants Grand Theft Auto 6 to be a big hit as it’s a game that will likely sell a ton of Xbox Series S consoles. The tiny Xbox is the cheapest way to play the upcoming GTA sequel.
So there you go: GTA 6 is out on October 28. Or maybe Take-Two does an early access period for the game and the “official” release date is the 28th but it really arrives three days early on the 25th. Either way, I’m thinking this Halloween season a lot of people are going to be too busy causing mayhem in Vice City to go to any spooky parties.
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