GTA 6

Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) is the next chapter of the colossal GTA Series. The game is
currently under development by Rockstar Games, even though no official information about it
has been released yet.
It has been over six years since Grand Theft Auto V has been released, so we can hope for an
official GTA 6 announcement soon.

Here's our analysis of the hints we were able to catch during these years of silence, along with a
collection of Rumors and possible Leaks.

GTA 6 Release Date

When Will GTA 6 Release? When is GTA 6 coming out? 

Rockstar Games have not confirmed a release date for GTA 6 yet, but the game is not expected
to release soon. From the hints we've seen, we could see GTA 6 released in 2021 or 2022.
GTA 6 Platforms
For what Platforms will GTA 6 be released?

GTA 6 will release for the next generation of consoles, Sony's PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's next
Xbox 'Project Scarlett'. There's a good chance we will see a version of the game for Windows PC
and Google Stadia too.

Unfortunately for people that won't get a next-gen console, recent new reveals indicate that
Rockstar Games will probably not be launching GTA 6 on PS4 and Xbox One. The next GTA
game will probably be next-gen hardware exclusive.

GTA 6 Location and Map

Where will GTA 6 take place?

If you're familiar with previous Rockstar games, you know that GTA 6 Map will have a
massively large map. Beautiful, ultra-dense, and full of places to explore. However, the location
where GTA 6 will be set in is still unknown.

Early rumors suggested that GTA 6 location could be set around Miami (in another rendition of
Vice City), with a second location for additional missions being in South America.
A more recent coded message hinted at the locations possibly being all Los Santos, Vice City
and Liberty City.

Having a Map that includes all previous cities from GTA games would truly be a dream. Below
you can see the Fan-made GTA 6 Map that we liked the most, which includes all the cities and
locations in the Grand Theft Auto series:

Unofficial/Fan-made Map

 Los Santos (lower left) from GTA V & GTA San Andreas

 Vice City (lower right) from GTA Vice City
 Las Venturas (lower center, near the desert) from GTA San Andreas
 San Fierro (top left) from GTA San Andreas
 Liberty City (top right) from GTA IV & GTA 3

Rockstar previously stated in an interview that they would like to include all previous cities in
one GTA game, so this map is a real possibility.
GTA 6 Lead Characters and Protagonist
Who will be the Protagonist of GTA 6?

According to early Rumors, GTA 6 could feature a female lead character for the first time in the
GTA series. It's unknown whether there would also be more protagonists like in GTA V, where
players could control 3 playable characters throughout single-player and switch between them
both during and outside missions (Michael, Franklin and Trevor).

 
GTA 6 Online Multiplayer
What will happen to GTA Online in GTA 6?

What the future holds for GTA Online and the multiplayer aspect of GTA 6 is still up in the air:
what will happen to GTA Online when Grand Theft Auto 6 comes out?

Rockstar essentially considers GTA Online its own game, despite requiring Grand Theft Auto V
to be played. To this day Rockstar is still adding new GTA Online Vehicles and customization
features. And with the enormous success that GTA Online proved to be, there is no doubt that we
will see it continue in some shape or form as part of GTA 6.

Will the current iteration of GTA Online carry over into GTA 6, or will players have to start
anew? And if so, how will the new multiplayer experience be called? Simply "GTA 6 Online",
"GTA Online 2", or something else entirely?

Could the GTA 6 version of GTA Online be an expanded world that also includes GTA V's San
Andreas along with the GTA 6 Locations?

For now, all these questions remain unanswered, but we hope more details about both the online
and single-player portions of Grand Theft Auto VI are revealed soon.
This GTA 6 leak has a ton of new information that might be
true
One way or another GTA 6 is happening. Rockstar hasn't officially announced anything, but
there have been plenty of rumors and reports. At this rate, we'll likely see GTA 6 on the PS5 and
Xbox Series X, but it's also possible they'll be cross-gen releases

The most concrete bit of evidence we have comes from a Kotaku report following up on
investigations into Rockstar's work culture. This report claims that GTA 6, or at least "a new
entry in the Grand Theft Auto series," is early in development as of April 2020. Additionally, it
suggests that Rockstar's internal plan for the game is to release a slightly smaller game and then
expand on it through regular updates. This suggests GTA 6 will build on the success of GTA
Online by integrating more live service options - or it could just be the framework for GTA
Online 2 outright. 

Either way, Rockstar remains tight-lipped about what we can expect from the highly-anticipated
RPG for now, but there are a few rumors circulating around on the internet, which we've paired
with some particularly enthusiastic theories from the GamesRadar team. To satiate your
appetites, below you'll find everything we know about GTA 6, from how many playable
characters it might have to potential locations, thanks to a flood of information from an alleged
GTA 6 Project Americas leak. Get reading!

Take all this information with a pinch of salt - make that two pinches, actually, since the game is
reportedly very early in development - but the latest alleged GTA 6 leak comes from Reddit.
User JackOLantern1982 relayed a grand total of 23 details about Rockstar's upcoming game. As
well as confirming that it's in development, they say that its codename is Project Americas as the
game will take place over multiple countries: namely, Brazil in a fictional city based on Rio de
Janeiro and Vice City in the US. Heavily influenced by Netflix's Narcos (which is a phenomenal
series about the origins of the cocaine trade), you can find the information from
JackOLantern1982 below, edited for clarity, along with details from a separate potential leak on
Fireden. 

 The next GTA title has been in development since 2012, but production didn't begin properly
until 2015, but even then the team was focusing more on Red Dead Redemption 2. 
 It's another Rockstar Worldwide Production.
 Codename is PROJECT AMERICAS.
 Set in both Vice City and a new fictional location based on Rio de Janeiro.
 Some linear missions take place in Liberty City, but it isn't an open world (think Ludendorff in
GTA 5).
 Game will balance realism and arcade and it won't be as realistic as Red Dead Redemption 2.
 One playable protagonist: male, not female, despite supposed leaks.
 Set in 1970s-1980s.
 You play as an up and coming drug lord-wannabe named "Ricardo". Another key character
called “Kacey” is a part of the narrative. You start off as a grunt doing runs as a cocaine smuggler
from Vice City to the new large South American area before making connections with big time
drug lords and making your way up. Multiple cities.
  There will also be a giant prison which will play a part in the game.
 Will feature a 'chapter' system similar to a Tarantino flick or Red Dead Redemption 2.
 Weather is a heavy focus (hurricanes, floods, etc).
 Buildings change over the eras, vehicles too. So older, rare classic cars get more expensive as
time progresses etc. Full economy.
 Heavily inspired by Netflix's Narcos.
 They want to have an incredible 70s/80s soundtrack.
 A younger Martin Madrazo will make an appearance as will his father who is a big drug lord at
the time. You do some missions for the Madrazo family involving hits on other gangs.
 Drug empire building is a mechanic similar to Vice City Stories but bigger. Think the GTA Online
system and dial it up to 10.
 You can only have weapons on your person. No arsenal in your back pocket, like Red Dead
Redemption 2.
 Your personal vehicle will be like your horse saddle in Red Dead Redemption 2. All your
equipment is stored in the trunk. You also store your body armour in the car. If you wear it, it
appears, no longer just an invisible thing.
 There will be tons of subtitle reading. Think Max Payne 3 amounts, very immersive, like
watching an episode of Narcos. Whenever you're in South America, don't expect to hear much
English. Vice City however is a mix of everything, but mostly English.
 Last bit of narrative info, it will discuss topics such as HIV and the immigration crisis of the time.
A fictional version of Fidel Castro etc.
 Next-gen only, not PS4 or Xbox One [aka PS5 and Xbox Project Scarlett].
 GTA 6 is now their primary focus, alongside another title (which might be Bully 2).
 Game is still in Pre-Alpha so names, locations, details could and probably will change.
 No ETA on a release date.

And here's the leaks from Fireden, edited for clarity too:

 The game is set in modern-day Liberty City.

 The beginning of the game is reminiscent of The Wire.
 Police officers are trying to crack down on a gang/drug ring based around a nightclub.
 There are four main characters, two police and two gang members.
 The plot then twists and goes to upstate New York, where it becomes more crime noir, think
Ozark and Breaking Bad.
 It will have twice the amount of dialogue as GTA 5 and a really crazy plot twist.
 The main storyline splits after a while, the criminal side has sort of a sandbox build-a-crime-
empire thing (Fallout 4 meets the Sims), while the police side is more of a traditional action
game with a little twist of LA Noire.
 Earliest release is holiday 2021, but I would guess later, 2022 or 2023.

Listen below for an in-depth discussion about GTA 6 from the @GTAVoclock team, who
accurately predicted large elements of GTA 5 back in 2012. The conversation from the 42m
42s mark about a 'deeper' vision for open worlds is especially relevant in light of Rockstar's
recently confirmed plans for Red Dead Redemption 2.
What has Rockstar said about GTA 6 on the record?
Rockstar North’s former President teased the next series entry back in 2013 in a four-part
interview with Develop magazine, which got the online rumour mill started:

“We don’t know what GTA 6 will be, but we’ve got some ideas,” said Benzies in the interview.
“We’ve got about 45 years’ worth of ideas we want to do. We’ll pick the right ones. It comes
from the idea first. Where it is going to be set is the first question. That then defines the
missions; you’re doing different things in LA than in New York or Miami. The map and story
get worked up together, and the story is a basic flow of how it works out so you can layer the
mission in."

Of course, Benzies didn’t give much away about what form GTA 6 will take and recently left
Rockstar North in fairly acrimonious circumstances. However, it’s unlikely that Rockstar will rip
up the GTA series’ tried-and-tested development process, where building a world comes first
with characters and structures layered on top. GTA 5 was created by 1000+ developers based
across studios worldwide, so it’d be a brave move to change the template. In fact, it’s probable
the location is already set: we spoke to a software provider at E3 2015, speaking under
discretion, who suggested work on GTA 6 was already well underway.

How the Fermi Problem might help us make more educated

predictions
Truthfully, nobody outside Rockstar North and their cast-iron NDAs knows anything about
GTA6, but using historical precedents and an estimation technique called the Fermi problem, we
can establish a more credible outline. What’s the Fermi problem? The term was recently
popularised in the book Superforecasting, prefaced by the question:

How many piano tuners are in Chicago?

Without google searching for the answer, it doesn’t sound like the sort of thing anyone would
know by heart – but your approach to tackling the question, reveals a lot about the potential
accuracy of the prediction.

In short, it’s possible to ‘chunk’ the question into more estimable parts e.g. What’s my guess at
the population of Chicago? On average how many people are in each house? How many houses
might own pianos? How often do they need tuning? A logical mind might land upon a figure of
200-300 piano tuners (as outlined in the link above). The actual answer is 290.

So, while GTA 6 is unknown, it is not composed of unknowables. You can apply historical
precedent, personal insight (into its creators), snippets of interviews, CV searches and an overlay
of societal – and technology – trends, to form a clearer picture. Predicting GTA 6 isn't a pure
'Fermi Problem', in that it isn't a solely quantitive issue, but the structural approach is relevant.
When will the GTA 6 release date be?
Long story short: if Rockstar had announced  GTA 6 the day after Red Dead Redemption 2 came
out (October 26, 2018 - put it in your diary), then based on historical delays between console
GTA announcements and release, we’d be waiting around 22 months – so August 2020. Of
course, Rockstar didn't do that. It didn't do anything, in fact, so all we have to go on is word that
GTA 6 was "early in development" as of April 2020. That makes it difficult to predict any sort of
release window, but we may at least hear about the game by the end of 2021, with a potential
release in 2022. 

It is, of course, entirely possible Rockstar that might try to minimize the window between
announcement and release – but that runs contrary to everything we know about pre-release hype
cycles and the drive for pre-orders. As physical stores continue to decline, however, a ‘surprise’
digital release remains a more viable, if absurdly bold, consideration.
Where will GTA 6 be set? Didn't the former Rockstar North
President once talk about a GTA World?

There a number of wild rumours, which we will address in due course, but let’s start with some
historical insight. So far, GTA games have been set in the following locations:

 Liberty City – GTA 3, GTA 4, Lost and Damned, The Ballad of Gay Tony
 Vice City – GTA Vice City
 San Andreas / Los Santos – GTA: San Andreas, GTA 5

If history was to repeat, Vice City or Liberty City feel like the most likely candidates for a return… but
it’s possible the game will explore new locations, which feels likelier in light of expectations set by
GTA Online i.e. the world won’t get smaller.