GTA 6 delayed to November 2026, stretching a 13-year wait and anger over Rockstar layoffs
Rockstar Games has pushed back “Grand Theft Auto VI” to Nov. 19, 2026. It’s second delay as reports of a $1–2 billion budget and controversial layoffs turn the game into one of the most expensive, and most scrutinized, entertainment projects ever made.
By Syed Huzaifa Bin Afzal
Rockstar Games has pushed back Grand Theft Auto VI to Nov. 19, 2026, the second delay for one of the most anticipated games ever.
The sequel was first expected in late 2025, then moved to May 26, 2026, before slipping again this month. Rockstar says it needs more time to “polish” the game to the standard players expectations, according to Reuters.
By the time GTA 6 launches, it will have been more than 13 years since Grand Theft Auto V came out. GTA 5 has sold over 200 million copies worldwide as of November 2024 and generated about $8.6 billion in revenue, making it one of the most successful entertainment products ever created, according to Radio Times.
Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company, saw its stock fall after the latest delay announcement, even as analysts still predict GTA 6 will make billions of dollars within weeks of release and boost console sales across the industry, according to Reuters.
Part of the pressure comes from cost. Industry analysts and tech sites estimate GTA 6’s total budget including development, marketing and online infrastructure in the range of $1–2 billion, which would make it the most expensive video game ever made, according to Trango Tech.
Some coverage notes that if the estimates are accurate, the game would cost more than many Hollywood blockbusters and even more than real-world megaprojects such as the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, according to The Times of India. Rockstar and Take-Two have not confirmed a specific number but consistently describe GTA 6 as their most ambitious project yet, according to Trango Tech.
Delays and sky-high budgets would be controversial on their own. What makes this situation different is what’s happening to the people building the game. In late October, Rockstar fired more than 30 employees in the UK and Canada, according to GamesRadar.
The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) says those workers were involved in union organizing and calls the move “one of the most blatant acts of union busting” in the games industry, according to The Verge. Rockstar and Take-Two say the employees were let go for “gross misconduct” related to sharing confidential information and deny that the firings were about unions, according to Game Developer.
The timing has drawn attention. According to public reporting and the game’s own development history, Rockstar announced the November 2026 delay just days after the mass firings, and the union has since filed legal claims against the company, according to Engadget.
Journalists note there’s no public evidence that the layoffs directly caused the delay, but they point out that morale inside the studio has taken a hit and that labor fights can make it harder to keep massive projects on track.
For players, the result is a mix of emotions. Some are tired of waiting after more than a decade of GTA V, while others say they would rather have a polished game than a rushed one, especially after recent high-profile launches that shipped with serious bugs.
On the UW Tacoma campus, one anonymous student and gamer said the delay itself “doesn’t really bother” them. Big, open-world games naturally take a long time, they said, and setbacks happen. What frustrates them is the idea that people working on the game can be fired while trying to organize for better conditions. They see that as part of a pattern where large studios treat developers like expendable resources, even as those workers create billion-dollar franchises.
They also said the delay does not change their personal plans much. They don’t own a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series console yet, so they were unlikely to play GTA 6 at launch anyway. When the game eventually arrives on PC, they still expect to buy it: they’re not the kind of player who boycotts every problematic company, and in the end, they “just want good games to play,” even while feeling conflicted about how those games get made.
For now, GTA fans have a choice: lean into the hype for another year or tune it out until the game is actually on store shelves.
The latest delay and the controversy around Rockstar’s labor practices turn GTA 6 into more than just a long-awaited sequel. It’s also a reminder that behind record-breaking budgets and slick trailers are real people whose jobs, rights and well-being shape the games we eventually see on screen.
