Rockstar Games has been around for many years, formed in 1998. Their flagship brand, Grand Theft Auto was conceived in 1995 by DMA Design – which was acquired 2 times before Take Two Interactive completely owns it. By the time Take Two Interactive renamed DMA Design as Rockstar North, DMA Design had already released two Grand Theft Auto games. The first game under the Rockstar North label, Grand Theft Auto III was released and went on to sell 14.5 Million copies worldwide by March 2008. Rockstar North followed up with Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and sold 17.5 Million copies worldwide by March 2008. Rockstar North then followed up with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and sold 27.5 Million copies by 2011. Rockstar North then followed up with Grand Theft Auto IV and sold over 20 Million copies worldwide by 2011. Ultimately, Rockstar North released Grand Theft Auto V, and has been released for two generations of consoles. Originally, Grand Theft Auto V was released for PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. GTAV was then released for PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. And now, it has been released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC. To date, Grand Theft Auto V has sold 100 Million copies by 2018.
It has been a while since Rockstar Games has spoken about Grand Theft Auto VI. The last known information is that Grand Theft Auto VI was to be released on May 26, 2026. On November 6, 2025 – Rockstar Games had announced that Grand Theft Auto VI would be released on November 19, 2026. Ever since that announcement dropped, many people has or had been looking for information, and likewise, there has been turmoil, and leaks. Well, on May 21, 2026, Take Two Interactive – which is the parent company of Rockstar Games – did a earnings call with investors and analysts. In that call, Strauss Zelnick and his staff has reconfirmed several times, that there will not be a delay, and that November 19, 2026 is the final date for Grand Theft Auto VI.
Before we talk about Grand Theft Auto VI, let’s talk about numbers for Rockstar Games, because Grand Theft Auto V has a new milestone. Since the 2013 release, Grand Theft Auto V – which has GTA Online bundled, by the way – has sold over 230 Million copies worldwide. Which brings the Grand Theft Auto franchise to a staggering 470 Million copies sold worldwide since series inception. According to Rockstar, both Trailer 1, and Trailer 2 of Grand Theft Auto VI broke media records on YouTube and across Social Media – “Rockstar Games released first trailer in December 2023 and the second in May 2025. As a YouTube exclusive, Trailer 1 broke the record for biggest non-music video debut on the platform at over 93 million views in 24 hours. Trailer 2’s cross platform debut was the biggest video launch ever at the time, with over 475 million views in 24 hours.”
[Source: Take Two’s May 2026 Investor Slide]
Take Two reaffirmed many times in the earnings call, that Grand Theft Auto VI is to be released November 19, 2026 – Strauss Zelnick stressed it many time, but the one highlight is “Fiscal 2027 is poised to be a breakout year for Take-Two, led by the November 19th release of Grand Theft Auto VI, arguably the most anticipated entertainment property of all time. We’re excited that Rockstar Games will start their marketing campaign this summer. Our initial financial outlook for Fiscal 2027 includes record Net Bookings of $8 billion-$8.2 billion. This reflects meaningful growth over last year, led by the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI, along with the successful execution across our entire portfolio. We expect to sustain this higher level of scale and generate strong cash flows well into the future as we release our robust long-term development pipeline and capitalize on new opportunities across our highly established, multifaceted business.” As Zelnick notes, the marketing for Grand Theft Auto VI is going to begin in Summer. Possibly starting in June. Zelnick also stated in the same call, that the marketing for GTAVI is going to be vastly different from the marketing done for GTAV in 2013.
[Source: Take Two Earnings Call Transcript on Yahoo! | Earnings Call Transcript PDF]
In the Question and Answers section of the Earnings Call, there was a question about the PC release. Zelnick said that right now, Rockstar Games is focused on the core customer base which is the gaming consoles space, rather than the PC space. Zelnick says there will be a staggered release for PC as in – game console releases will go first, before releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto VI.
Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled to be released for PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S / X on November 19, 2026.