A former Rockstar Games developer has warned that another delay to Grand Theft Auto VI would not be surprising if the studio decides it needs more time to complete and polish the highly anticipated title.
GTA 6 is currently scheduled to launch on November 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. However, Mike York, a former Rockstar animator who worked on Grand Theft Auto V, said the company could postpone the game by as much as another six months if important parts of the project are not ready.
York said he “would not be shocked at all” if Rockstar chose to delay the release again, stressing that the studio has historically been willing to postpone major titles rather than launch them with unresolved technical or design problems.
The former developer made clear that he no longer works for Rockstar and has no inside information about the current state of GTA 6. His assessment was instead based on his past experience with the company and its approach to developing large-scale games.
According to York, problems involving a major late-game mission, performance issues or a significant number of unresolved bugs could be enough for Rockstar to reconsider the November release date.
“They’ll push it six more months if they have to,” York said while discussing a hypothetical situation in which a crucial part of the game remained unfinished close to launch.
A six-month postponement would move GTA 6’s release to around May 2027. However, York was not predicting that such a delay would happen, only arguing that Rockstar would be prepared to take that step if it believed the game required additional development time.
Rockstar Has Not Announced Another GTA 6 Delay
There is currently no official indication that the release schedule has changed.
Rockstar continues to list November 19, 2026, as the launch date for GTA 6. Pre-orders opened on June 25, while digital preloading is expected to begin on November 12. The standard edition is priced at $79.99 in the United States.
These preparations indicate that Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive, are moving forward with the planned November launch. However, active marketing campaigns and pre-orders do not completely rule out the possibility of another postponement.
Take-Two has also incorporated the GTA 6 release into its financial forecasts for fiscal 2027. In its latest annual results, the publisher said it expected record performance during the fiscal year, driven largely by the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI.
GTA 6 Has Already Been Delayed Twice
Speculation about another delay has intensified because GTA 6 has already been postponed twice.
Rockstar initially planned to release the game in fall 2025. In May 2025, the company delayed the launch until May 26, 2026, saying it needed more time to deliver the level of quality expected by players.
The release date was later pushed back again to November 19, 2026. Rockstar said the additional development period would allow its teams to complete the game with the level of polish associated with the studio’s major releases.
That history supports York’s broader argument that Rockstar is willing to alter even its most important release plans rather than launch a game before it is considered ready.
However, his comments should not be interpreted as evidence that a third delay is currently being discussed inside the company. York has not worked at Rockstar for several years and acknowledged that he has no direct knowledge of the development team’s progress.
His remarks are therefore best viewed as an informed opinion about Rockstar’s development culture. Given GTA 6’s technical ambition and commercial importance, the studio may consider another missed deadline less damaging than releasing the game with serious performance issues, unfinished missions or highly visible bugs.
Unless Rockstar announces otherwise, Grand Theft Auto VI remains scheduled for release on November 19, 2026.
