GTA 6 Was A Fluke: Rockstar Promises Next Game Won't Take As Long To Launch

Published Oct 14, 2026, 6:23 AM EDT James Lucas is an Executive Editor at TheGamer who has worked in professional journalism since 2018. A Newcastle University graduate with a degree in Journalism, Media, and Culture, they have written hundreds of guides, news stories, and original reports, with bylines in IGN, NME, GaymingMag, and VG247, sourcing interviews with studio heads, legendary industry figures, prominent actors, and more. An expert on FPS games, Soulslikes, RPGs, and survival horror, James has intimate knowledge of a wide variety of titles, providing in-depth coverage and exclusive profiles. Some of the games they have extensively covered include: Half-Life 3, Counter-Strike, Elden Ring, and Fallout. They pride themselves on their consistently thorough research, leveraging nearly a decade of industry experience. You can reach them at James.t@thegamer.com Sign in to your TheGamer account This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.GTA 6 has been in the works in some shape or form since 2015, when development lead Rob Nelson flew out to Miami for the first research trip on what was then dubbed "Project Americas." That means GTA 6 has been in development for 11 years, launching 8 years after Red Dead Redemption 2. Fans have been waiting a long time, to put it lightly However, in a refreshingly open interview with Bloomberg about the game's development, Rockstar leadership promised that its next game won't take nearly as long. "The engine, the tools, and the team we've built during this project will allow us to do things more quickly," Phil Hooker said. "I feel confident that we can build on top of this and go more sideways than upwards to build more compelling content." "We foundationally changed a lot of stuff on this project," Aaron Garbut added. "But now it's done, and we're not going to rip it apart." A Return To Vice City And San Andreas-Style Games? What This Might Mean For Rockstar In an industry where development cycles are ballooning into decades, it's reassuring to hear that Rockstar doesn't plan to reinvent the wheel with every new game. Hopefully, that will mark a return to Vice City and San Andreas-style sequels, iterating on GTA 6 in the same way they iterated on GTA 3. Though, of course, Garbut and Hooker didn't specify that the team's next game would be GTA 7, so we could see a Red Dead Redemption 3 or LA Noire built on the back of GTA 6 within the next few years. Maybe even a new IP altogether, like that "project medieval" that unfortunately never escaped the concept phase.