Rockstar's release strategy for Grand Theft Auto 6 could generate billions in annual revenue for Take-Two Interactive.
It's confirmed now that Rockstar Games is working on a PC version of Grand Theft Auto 6, thanks to an accidental leak courtesy of Rockstar Games and the Rockstar Games Launcher. Now, the biggest question is when will GTA 6 hit PC? There's reason to believe that the wait won't be as long as with Grand Theft Auto 5 — but we shouldn't expect a simultaneous launch either.
As Rockstar works out the many, many kinks of the BattleEye implementation in GTA Online, it's obvious the studio is prepping the feature for when it's eventually implemented on the PC version of GTA 6 — hopefully averting the same, near-apocalyptic levels of cheating that plagued Online for so long.
When you consider that GTA 6 isn't expected to arrive until much later in 2025 and the most recent leaks we just got, it does make perfect sense why everyone would think that a simultaneous launch of GTA 6 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S/X could happen — except it probably won't.
As best explained by former Rockstar developer Mike York, who worked on GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 from 2012-2017, Rockstar prioritizes the platforms that sell the most, which, for the past two decades, have meant the PlayStation—this could also be why there are the persistent rumors of a Nintendo Switch port of Grand Theft Auto 5.
To further illustrate the point, all we need to do is to look at a WSJ report, which shows that Microsoft has only sold 28.3 million units of the Xbox Series S/X as of June 24, less than half of the PS5's sales during the same time span at nearly 62 million units.
Given that Rockstar already has its hands full optimizing GTA 6 for the Xbox Series S, a considerably weaker platform compared to the PS5, while making it look best on the PS5 Pro, it can't afford to work on all three ports simultaneously without compromising quality, especially after what happened with the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition.
It isn't controversial to say that GTA 6 will look best on the PS5 Pro based on the available hardware alone, even though some industry experts are telling everyone to tone down their expectations. Besides, there's a much bigger opportunity at hand here for Rockstar if it plays its cards right.
If Rockstar releases GTA 6 on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X in 2025, it can push the PC port back until 2026. The game should then arrive on the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027 before being ported to the PlayStation 6, which, according to the most recent reports, should come in 2028 with an AMD-powered chip.
Staggering the release of GTA 6 on at least four platforms should take care of Take-Two's bottom line for four years, guaranteeing more than a billion dollars in annual revenue from GTA 6 alone — it worked with GTA 5, after all.
For now, GTA fans can look forward to seeing what Rockstar has in store for GTA 5 this holiday season. Rockstar has already started cranking up the update machine with the release of BattleEye anti-cheat for GTA Online, as it accidentally leaks that the next-gen version of GTA 5 is coming to the PC soon.
