GTA 6 Was Sidelined to Prioritize Red Dead 2

Rockstar originally planned to develop GTA 6 and Red Dead Redemption 2 simultaneously, but determined that keeping both projects in full production would not be feasible. The company placed the new GTA on the back burner so it could concentrate its resources on the western. That decision helps explain why GTA 6 entered active development later than some players had assumed.

Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson told Bloomberg that the ambition behind Red Dead Redemption 2 required an all-hands effort. In practice, that prevented GTA 6 from moving forward in parallel as initially intended. The priority became completing the game released in 2018 before fully shaping the next Grand Theft Auto.

The decision did not mean that everything produced during that period remained separate from GTA 6. Nelson said everything Rockstar built for Red Dead Redemption 2 would eventually “pay off” in the new GTA. The years dedicated to the western therefore also produced knowledge, technology, and systems that could be used later.

IGN notes that GTA 6 uses ideas and systems associated with Red Dead Redemption 2, including its approach to interactions with non-player characters. That suggests the current project was influenced by the path Rockstar took during its previous major production. The source does not identify every shared technology or provide a complete list of elements carried from one game to the other.

The possibility of a much earlier release remains hypothetical and was never a window publicly announced by Rockstar. IGN estimates that developing both titles simultaneously might have allowed GTA 6 to arrive in the early 2020s. No specific internal release date is cited for that alternative scenario.

The timeline also draws a distinction between research and planning and full-scale active development. Rockstar teams and leadership had been researching and planning GTA 6 since at least 2014, shortly after GTA 5's release. During the mid-to-late 2010s, staff also traveled to Florida to research the setting and develop ideas for the project.

Despite that preliminary work, GTA 6 did not have a “skeleton” for its story until the end of 2019, one year after Red Dead Redemption 2 launched. The team then needed additional time to fully understand what the game would become. This timeline pushes back against the idea that GTA 6 had remained in continuous active development since shortly after 2013.

The first GTA 6 release window Rockstar ever announced publicly was 2025. The game was subsequently delayed more than once, according to the report. The earlier possibility of developing it alongside Red Dead Redemption 2 was never presented to players as a public release commitment.

Rockstar head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe said she had to call Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick only months after announcing the first delay to explain that the team needed more time. According to Kolbe, Zelnick initially responded by asking whether she was kidding. After the reasons were discussed, however, he understood the decision and did not demand that the studio simply ship the game.

Several other factors increased the production's length and complexity. Rockstar doubled in size during GTA 6's development, dealt with multiple leaks, and experienced reduced productivity during the pandemic. The studio also made major changes to how it operates while building the game.

For players waiting for GTA 6, the report changes the perspective on its timeline rather than providing a new deadline. It does not introduce a new release date, platform, edition, price, or access condition, but it explains why the gap between GTA 5 and GTA 6 does not represent uninterrupted work on one project. It also indicates that part of the new game's technical identity grew out of systems created while Red Dead Redemption 2 held the studio's full attention.

It remains unknown what GTA 6 would have looked like if both projects had actually advanced side by side, or which features might have been reduced to make that plan possible. The report also does not specify when Rockstar definitively abandoned simultaneous production or how many years that decision added to the schedule. IGN published the account based on the statements and development history presented in Bloomberg's report.