With the pre-orders finally starting, it seems that GTA 6 is about to be released after nearly 13 years, and while Rockstar Games took that time to develop Red Dead Redemption 2, this new game in the Grand Theft Auto series has taken a long time to appear, as most successful franchises do not exceed a decade between their releases.
Determining the cause of this delay is complex due to the many variables in game development, especially for games like this that involve thousands of people, here are some factors that contributed to the long wait for GTA 6, and how it is about to become the biggest entertainment product launch in history.
Schaefer's report also touched on the new company culture that has taken over Rockstar in recent years. The team became known for its grueling work practices, where developers were forced to work very long hours to meet deadlines, a toxic and exhausting practice aimed at draining employee energy.
Schaefer's lengthy 2018 report delved into how difficult it was for the team to release RDR 2, noting work weeks of 60 to 80 hours, mandatory overtime, pressure to show up on weekends or stay late, and ongoing revision that means discarding previous work. While accounts vary in severity, they weren't much different from the grueling development cycles of previous games such as the first Red Dead Redemption, GTA 5, and Max Payne 3. It was a company that had long established a culture of maximizing employee exploitation.
It seems that Rockstar has changed its approach after that scathing article based on the opinions of many current and former developers. A 2022 Bloomberg article detailed the company's more flexible approach to overtime, how it transitioned contractors to full-time employees, fired some toxic leaders, and added producers to better keep track of timelines. These steps seem to address many of the previous complaints.
Caring for employees and giving them room for creativity is something all studios should strive for. However, as a necessary result of this approach, developing GTA 6 has taken a little longer. In 2022, the game had only "undefined timelines," and according to those interviewed, it had no set release date. The aforementioned report also pointed out that some had "grown weary of the slow progress" in the game's development.
It seems that work pressure has crept back into the studio. An anonymous user on Glassdoor, a site specializing in company reviews, mentioned that they were asked to work overtime without pay and that others were working until the early morning hours to get work done in five or six months, or even two or three.
None of this information has been verified, and no similar reports have been published, so it's impossible to determine the accuracy of these claims or their prevalence. Take-Two Interactive's CEO, Strauss Zelnick, stated in an interview published in May that work pressure is not the company's mode of operation. However, it's difficult to consider the CEO's statements objective facts, as he is not with the work teams daily and has a motive to conceal unsatisfactory details.
It's much easier to hold off on producing a new installment if the previous one is still raking in huge profits, as is evident from GTA 5, the third best-selling game of all time. Last May, GTA 5 sold more than 230 million copies since its release in 2013. To illustrate, by February 2024, the beloved three Spider-Man games from Insomniac Games collectively sold over 50 million copies.
Selling one game 230 million copies is truly an amazing feat, and the story doesn't stop there. According to leaked data from April, GTA Online brings Rockstar about $1.3 million daily. This is just alleged data starting from September 2025, meaning the game was likely generating much larger profits closer to its release date or in the few years that followed.