Rockstar Games has officially announced that Grand Theft Auto 6 is scheduled for release in 2025, following a trailer reveal that took place late last year. The much-anticipated trailer, which has garnered 174 million views on YouTube to date, was unveiled on December 5, showcasing stunning graphics, an intricately designed Vice City, and a Tom Petty song that has since seen a remarkable 37,000 percent spike in Spotify streams. However, the trailer’s release was preceded by an unauthorized leak online, prompting disappointment from Rockstar’s management.
In a discussion prior to the company’s earnings call on Thursday, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick shared his thoughts with IGN about the leaked trailer, describing it as “disappointing,” yet asserting that it had not adversely impacted Rockstar or Take-Two.
“The leak is always disappointing for the team, but ultimately, I don’t think it hurt us,” Zelnick noted, expressing satisfaction with how the official trailer captivated audiences online.
Zelnick’s sentiments mirror his earlier remarks from February of the previous year regarding a different leak that showcased development footage from GTA 6. He referred to such incidents as being more of an “emotional matter” rather than a financial one. “We take leaks very seriously indeed and they disappoint all of us; it’s really frustrating and upsetting to the team,” he remarked at the time. “However, as a business matter we’re not affected. But as a personal matter and an emotional matter, our teams are affected.”
The development of GTA 6 has been tumultuous, plagued by numerous leaks, the most significant being a hack in September 2022 that exposed over 90 videos of in-progress gameplay and introduced the game’s main characters alongside its Vice City backdrop. These details received official confirmation with the trailer release, which presents two playable characters — Lucia and her partner, believed to be named Jason — set against a Miami-inspired locale named Leonida. Upon the trailer’s release, Rockstar took to X to address the leak, inviting fans to view the official content on YouTube.
In its latest financial update, Take-Two reported its third-quarter earnings for the fiscal year 2024, which ended December 31, 2023. The company’s net bookings for the quarter reached $1.3 billion (approximately Rs. 11,126 crore), buoyed by robust sales from Grand Theft Auto 5, GTA Online, and the Red Dead Redemption series. Despite this strong performance, Take-Two has lowered forecasts for its fourth-quarter bookings below market predictions and revised its revenue expectations for the fiscal year 2025. This has sparked speculation that the highly anticipated GTA 6 may not debut until after March 2024. Analysts project that the new installment will provide a notable lift to the company’s earnings once it launches in the latter half of fiscal year 2026.
