Rockstar has officially finished GTA 6 as pre-orders go above expectations

Less than two weeks away (Rockstar) Take-Two’s CEO has confirmed development on GTA 6 has officially wrapped up, as he teases the studio’s follow-up. We’re just over a week away from the launch of GTA 6 on November 19, and after years of anticipation, Rockstar has officially completed work on the sequel. This was announced during publisher Take-Two Interactive’s earnings call, by the company’s CEO Strauss Zelnick. ‘Right now, Rockstar has completed the development of GTA 6,’ Zelnick said. ‘That may not come as a surprise to you, considering we’re 10 days from the release. ‘They have done their very best work and it’s going to come to consumers soon. And they’re in the middle of their marketing campaign, which also, unsurprisingly, is fully baked. ‘So at this point, it’s the job of the organisation to make sure that we do an A+ job technically in delivering this product to consumers, and then of course Rockstar will focus on what comes next and we’ll announce that in the fullness of time.’ Want GTA 6 news? Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for the latest GTA 6 news, reviews of new games you should play and exclusive analysis of the biggest stories of the week. While he doesn’t use the phrase, some have interpreted this as GTA 6 ‘going gold’, which is shorthand for when development of the base game has finished and is ready for the manufacturing process. However, as GTA 6 isn’t actually being released on a disc, it’s a particularly archaic term in the context of GTA – but it at least means the launch build is ready. The ‘what comes next’ likely alludes to the online portion of GTA 6, which still hasn’t been officially announced but is expected following the success of GTA Online. Additionally, a PC version is rumoured for early next year. However, Zelnick’s comments could be a reference to GTA 6’s successor. In October, Rockstar confirmed its next project shouldn’t take another eight years to make due to the engine, tools, and team they’ve built during GTA 6’s development, with the studio’s last game being 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2. Zelnick was asked about these comments during an interview with IGN, where he also suggested Rockstar’s output will be faster over the next decade. ‘We do think that the nature and velocity of the content we’ll see from our iconic franchises, including GTA, will look dramatically different over the next decade,’ Zelnick said. ‘And that’s really being driven by our industry leading commitment to releasing the highest quality entertainment, to reaching our players in new ways and in new places and trying to maintain engagement with our consumers post-launch.’ Rockstar hasn’t confirmed what its next project will be, but rumours suggest it could be a sequel to L.A. Noire, or some kind of expansion to GTA 6. Elsewhere in the earnings call, Zelnick said pre-orders are ‘running far in excess of our expectations’. Previously, he described the volume across PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S as ‘unprecedented’ and ‘astonishing’. Speaking about the pre-order numbers to Variety ahead of the earnings call, Zelnick added: ‘That’s a good thing. That said, we never claim success before it occurs. So we’re just days away from beginning to see the fruits of our labour.’ Last week, estimates put GTA 6 pre-orders at almost eight million copies, which is a very impressive number considering only hardcore players typically pre-order digital games. Incredibly, the game’s predecessor is still selling copies 13 years later. GTA 5 has now surpassed 235 million copies sold, which means another five million copies were shifted within the last three months. Prepare for the biggest launch ever (Rockstar) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: Warhammer Survivors review – swapping vampires for grimdark spacemarines Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: What should the first GTA 6 spin-off be? Arrow MORE: New PS Portal model has expanded storage but Sony won’t say why GameCentral Get the latest GTA 6 news, reviews of new games you should play and exclusive analysis of the biggest stories of the week.