In his words, "As we get closer to completion of a title that’s seeking perfection, the needs or lack thereof, for continued polish become clear. In this case there was an opportunity with a small amount of incremental time, we thought, to make sure Rockstar Games achieves its creative vision with no limitations. And I supported of course that approach."
Zelnick then downplayed the GTA 6 delay, saying that Rockstar has almost always followed through when they've confirmed the release dates of their upcoming titles.
In a later interview with VentureBeat, Zelnick noted that GTA 6 wasn't delayed as long as most are making it out to be, claiming that the game was originally expected to release less than six months from May 26, 2026.
Doing some quick maths leads us to conclude that GTA 6 would've been released in late November, which would explain the earlier financial predictions made by Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki (Sony has since changed their initial projections following the delay).
With that said, Zelnick does have every right to be confident. Every piece of new content, from new characters to locations we've received so far suggests that GTA 6 is in an excellent state, with the updated website giving us a year's worth of content to talk about.
But, that's not all. The second GTA 6 trailer has already set a new viewership record.
While Rockstar has almost always followed through with releasing their games once they've penciled in a date, the key here is "almost".
The most recent mainline Grand Theft Auto title to be delayed was Grand Theft Auto 4. As former Rockstar North lead developer Obbe Vermeij confirmed, the delay happened months before the game's original release date of October 17, 2007.
Coincidentally, GTA 4 is drawing other parallels with GTA 6, mostly because Lucia Caminos is from Liberty City and could be related to characters previously introduced or mentioned in the 2008 title.
For now though, there seems to be no reason to believe that GTA 6 will be delayed even further.
In the meantime, let's all hope that Rockstar gives us something else to play in the interim. The most recent rumors suggest that an unknown developer is working on something related to GTA 4, but it might not be a remaster or a remake.
