Gamescom will kick off this week with Gamescom 2020: Opening Night Live, a virtual event that will feature two hours of game reveals and updates. While the event will give fans a peek at upcoming titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Ratchet and Clank, one highly anticipated game will be absent: Grand Theft Auto 6.
Fans have speculated about when the next installment of Grand Theft Auto would arrive since the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 were announced. Many fans hoped that Grand Theft Auto 6 would release shortly after the next generation of consoles. Grand Theft Auto 5 – the last game in the series – was released shortly before the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 debuted.
GTA 6's absence was confirmed by Gamescom 2020: Opening Night Live host Geoff Keighley. Not only did Keighley confirm that Grand Theft Auto 6 would not be announced at Gamescom, but he also went so far as to say that mere suggestion was silly, which is fair given that leaks indicate the game is till early in development.
"Somebody today tweeted me like, 'so does this mean Grand Theft Auto 6 is being announced?' And there's just silly stuff like that gets like thrown out there, and it's like no, there's just things that are not going to happen," Keighley said during a Q&A for the upcoming show.
The confirmation should not surprise die-hard Rockstar fans, as the developer traditionally announces its biggest games on its own. When Rockstar revealed Red Dead Redemption 2, for example, the developer first spent a week teasing fans with hints and images before making the official announcement. When the announcement trailer finally dropped, it was not reveled at a live event or gaming conference, but simply uploaded to YouTube and social media. It’s likely that Rockstar will do the same for Grand Theft Auto 6.
Even as fans speculate about when the game will be announced, Rockstar has yet to give any indication regarding whether Grand Theft Auto 6 is in development, as the developer is currently working on new content for Red Dead Online and Grand Theft Auto Online. However, that hasn’t stopped various GTA 6 rumors from circulating on the internet.
The most prominent rumor is that the game will take place in Vice City. Players have not visited the Miami-inspired setting since 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. There is no hard evidence to back this up, however. When it comes to Grand Theft Auto 6, it looks like fans will be in the dark for at least the next few months, and probably much, much longer.