It’s happening, it’s finally happening! After many, many years of wait and never-ending strings of rumours later, Rockstar has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto 6 is in active development. 

A statement provided by the company read:

“With the unprecedented longevity of GTAV, we know many of you have been asking us about a new entry in the Grand Theft Auto series. With every new project we embark on, our goal is always to significantly move beyond what we have previously delivered—and we are pleased to confirm that active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well underway. We look forward to sharing more as soon as we are ready, so please stay tuned to the Rockstar Newswire for official details.”

Now, this isn’t really news to those who keep tabs on Reddit threads and the alleys of the internet. After all, a report published by Kotaku, back in April 2020 all but confirmed it. But this is the first time, the company has spoken so openly about it. That said, the announcement wasn’t accompanied by any trailer or even a teaser poster. A norm that has been established by two of its previous games – GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2. 

Rockstar is known to be pretty tight-lipped about these things. So yes, currently we have no idea about the how, where and when. But there are a plethora of rumours which may point us in the right direction. Let’s take a look at some of them. 

Will cover the Americas! 

There’s a lot of speculation on where the next instalment in the franchise will take us. Will it be New York? Chicago? The moon? Okay, maybe not the last bit. But the point is, every possibility has been explored by the rumour mill, ranging from boring to outlandish. However, almost every rumour and gossip points towards GTA 6’s map to be absolutely massive. Perhaps the entirety of the United States? Maybe. 

According to Inside Gamin’s, The Know, Rockstar is developing GTA 6 under the code name ‘Project Americas.’ The reason being, players will have the ability to fly between the US and South America in the game. This sounds absolutely bonkers. 

Narcos inspiration?

A now-deleted Reddit post seems to be corroborating with The Know’s claim. The post mentioned that Project Americas has been in production since 2015, and was briefly put on hold to focus the development on RDR2. It further added GTA 6 will be set across multiple decades and span over many international cities, with one central protagonist. 

A leaked map, and many theories

Yet another tidbit of information that made the front page of the internet was a series of ‘leaked’ images of the map. So far four maps have been leaked in total, each showing different sections. This falls in line with Project America’s line of rumours, with each map showcasing different sections of the game. The rumoured locations here include – Rio De Janeiro, the Everglades and Colombia. On the US side, the game is rumoured to feature Vice City (GTA’s version of Miami) and Liberty City. 

A possible release in 2024 or 2025?

Do not expect GTA 6 to come out anytime soon. Publishers are known to tease their titles, years before the game even has a trailer. While rumoured to be in development since 2015, we have no doubt that GTA 6 is at least three or more years away from being finished. Backing this claim is Take-Two’s (Rockstar’s parent company) SEC filing from 2020. It indicates that the company is expected to spend upwards of $89 million on marketing between April 2023, and the end of March 2024. That’s a lot of money to spend unless you’re coming up with a new title. 

This timeline coincides with Tom Henderson’s prediction. Henderson is a known leaker, famous for his accurate leaks on CoD and Battlefield.