After over 12 years, the agonizing wait for Grand Theft Auto 6 is almost over, with the long-awaited open-world game currently locked in for a November 19, 2026 release date. The game has already faced multiple delays, and some believe that Grand Theft Auto 6could even be pushed back further, although nothing from Rockstar Games suggests that this is the case.
Whether it makes that November 19, 2026, release date or not, there are millions of existing Grand Theft Auto 5 players who will be left unable to play the latest game in the series on day one. Throughout its marketing campaign, GTA 6 has not yet mentioned a possible PC release, and there is no indication that this will change before release. Take-Two has suggested that skipping PC at launch is standard practice for the company, and CEO Strauss Zelnick pointed out that historically, Rockstar releases have eventually branched out to other platforms post-launch.
Grand Theft Auto 6 PC Release Date Delay Locks Millions of Gamers Out at Launch
The scale of the hype for Grand Theft Auto 6's release is unique, and it is almost certainly the type of game that some PC-exclusive GTA 5 players will purchase a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S to experience at launch. But for many, this won't be an option, leaving them with no choice but to wait for the eventual PC release. Exact sales figures for GTA 5 on PC are not public, although VG Insights estimates the number of Steam owners for the Legacy version of the game to be just over 36 million. PlayTracker puts the figure much higher at just under 78 million. Although that is an enormous variation, even the lower figure is a huge number of owners. Many of those players will already have PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles alongside their PCs, and will be able to purchase GTA 6 at launch with no problems. Some, as mentioned, will buy a console to play. That almost certainly leaves millions of existing Grand Theft Auto 5 players who won't be able to enjoy the upcoming game in the series.
It's unlikely that Rockstar will confirm an exact Grand Theft Auto 6 PC release date until after the game has launched on consoles. Telling players how long they'll need to wait to get their hands on the game could potentially encourage many to stick it out, especially considering the fact that they've already waited this long. There are obvious benefits for Rockstar and Take-Two in selling the same game to players on different platforms twice. The best guideline right now is to look at Rockstar's more recent history with PC releases. Grand Theft Auto 5 had 19 months between its September 2013 console launch and April 2015 PC release. By comparison, Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar's most recent game) launched on PC just over a year after its initial PS4 and Xbox One release. If GTA 6 followed the same path, that would mean the game could arrive on PC around November 2027.
Read the full article on GameRant
This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
