After riding the success of Grand Theft Auto 5 for close to a full decade, fans of the open-world franchise are understandably starting to get eager for news from Rockstar Games about its inevitable follow-up. The problem is, with GTA 5 becoming the most profitable entertainment product in the industry, the publisher appears to be reticent to even consider swapping out its money tree with Grand Theft Auto 6. Amidst these two contrasting forces of nature, a climate of rampant leaks and rumors has sprung up on the internet surrounding the as-of-yet unannounced game.
Leaks and rumors in relation Grand Theft Auto 6 aren't technically a new phenomenon, having dominated the internet ever since GTA 5 hit store shelves three console generations ago. In only the first 6 months of 2021 though, there's been a noticeable upturn in both their frequency. While a hefty freight train's worth of salt is needed in relation to any GTA 6 themed leak, there's a slim chance that some of them might one day prove to be somewhat based in reality.
Vice City's GTA 6 Return
One of the more prevalent leaks doing the rounds online right now centers around the franchise returning to one of its most iconic settings, Vice City. Having appeared in a handful of games, most notably in the wildly popular titular titled PS2 hit, the Miami inspired fictional locale is set to return with a fresh coat of paint if alleged insiders are to be believed. This potential leak comes curtesy of proven Battlefield and Call of Duty insider Tom Henderson, who in a recent video entitled 'bits and bobs' set out the details that he's overheard in relation to the almost mythical GTA 6.
By Henderson's account, GTA 6 will have a much more traditional focus than a lot of other leaks have suggested, focusing on a modern day incarnation of the famous location, as apposed to being a sprawling map with multiple cities. Those details wouldn't be particularly surprising if real, given the compactness and urbanized nature of the original Vice City. By a similar token, it isn't shocking to hear that this potential vision of the game supposedly features three protagonists once again, given the rampant success that formula achieved in GTA 5. One of the playable characters will allegedly this time be a female hacker.
Further shakeups to GTA's historic formula would also come in the form of seasonal map based revisions. Over the course of GTA 6's theoretical life, this leak suggests that Vice City would evolve and change with each new DLC release, like an expanded version of what the publisher currently does with GTA Online. Considering the enduring success battle royale games like Fortnite and Apex Legends have managed to cultivate using this exact same philosophy, it's not too much of a stretch of the imagination.
The Persistent Project Americas
One of the most enduring rumors surrounding GTA 6 so far during 2021 actually first sprung to life nearly 3 years ago. Dubbed 'Project Americas' by the Grand Theft Auto community back in 2018, the ambitious ideas related to it have not gone away. As the code name alludes to, this supposed incarnation of the game centers around the premise of a truly outrageously sized 1980s themed world map, and a sole protagonist named Ricardo.
Just as the Project Americas leaks have continued to grow and suck in more alleged details from across the internet, so too has its map ballooned in size alongside it. By the time 2021 had already rolled around, 5 cities including Vice City, the entirety of GTA 5's Los Santos, and a new South American based locale were all said to feature in what would be one of the most ambitious projects in entertainment history. If all of that wasn't enough already, a bonus extra location is also said to be in development for GTA 6's supposed live service post launch content too.
Even though the enduring nature of the Project Americas concept might suggest some sort of credibility, that isn't the case at all. Over the last three years a host of supposedly leaked maps have cropped up online, and have lacked any sort of concrete origin. Over the last few months as more leaks have started to take hold, industry insiders like the previously mentioned Tom Henderson have joined in on the debunking too, claiming that 80% of Project Americas is smoke and mirrors. Based on the insider's own Vice City themed leak, that 20% wiggle room most likely relates to the fact both include this detail. By any stretch of the imagination, Project Americas sounds far too much like a GTA fan's wildest dream.
GTA 6 Map Leaks
Rockstar Games is in a somewhat awkward position in general right now, thanks to the fact that aside from the expanded PS5 and Xbox Series X/S version of Grand Theft Auto 5, the publisher has no announced games to publicly talk about. In the vacuum of noise being created by that silence, a list of GTA 6 maps have sprung up across the internet during 2021.
Besides the ones previously attached to the Project Americas leaks, one GTA 6 map in particular has raised more than a few eyebrows from fans this year. Sporting a mix of terrain and an urbanized peninsula area, the map could theoretically represent an updated version of Vice City. Rockstar Games' maps have historically leaked online in the past, most famously and recently with Red Dead Redemption 2. However, a heft does of salt naturally still needs to be taken with any form of alleged map leak, as creating one is something that can be done comparatively simply thanks to Google Maps, and the near-photorealistic level gaming has reached in general. Besides this the map found at the heart of this leak also appears to of such a low quality that its validity is further diminished as a result of this.
GTA 6's Rumored Release Date
With fans eagerly sat around waiting for any sort of acknowledgment from Rockstar Games in relation to GTA 6's status, the question of when the game might be released has formed a set of leaks all of its own. With 8 years having transpired since the release of GTA 5, there's a growing sense within the game's dedicated community that some sort of announcement has to be soon, so that the marketing campaign can begin. During 2021, there have so far been a number of conflicting accounts from different entertainment insiders with proven track records in relation to this, suggesting there's different timeframes for fans to mark their calendars.
The first of these has come from ViewerAnon, an insider admittedly affiliated more with the film industry, who recently declared that a 2023 GTA 6 release was originally scheduled internally by Rockstar. With the ongoing global pandemic, the insider has cautioned that this could have already changed by now, and that the game might have been pushed back further than this. With GTA 5 set to launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 11, there's also an understandable expectation that the next full entry in the franchise will only be revealed after that date at the earliest. This seems like a logical assumption for fans to keep in mind, as despite Take-Two's CEO claiming in 2020 that the two entries could co-exist, it's highly unlikely that the publisher risk damaging the re-release's sales potential.
With 2023 therefore seeming like a longshot, that brings the rumor mill back to Tom Henderson yet again. As part of his aforementioned video regarding potential GTA 6 leaks, the insider has claimed that the game has been pushed back even further into a 2024/25 release window. Even though that will come as heart breaking news to expectant fans, there's plenty of reasons to believe that this is likely.
As Henderson alludes to, there's still a limited number of next generation consoles out in the wild thanks to ongoing manufacturing issues, which would limit Rockstar's lofty sales expectations if the publisher plans on pushing it's open-world technology further than ever before. More importantly, Rockstar has committed to reforming the crunch culture that has plagued the developer in the past, which would go someway to explaining why it currently doesn't have any new games announced.
GTA Online's Reveal of GTA 6
Whenever Rockstar Games ultimately decides to let players peak behind the curtain to see what's happening with GTA 6's development, it stands to reason that the publisher might leverage the ongoing success it's had with GTA Online. Still wildly popular nearly a decade after its release amongst players and GTA RP Twitch Streamers alike, one rumor this year has suggested a live event could be used as a part of the marketing countdown to the new game. Posted to the notoriously unreliable 4Chan, this leak suggests that a series of 4 major online events could be used in game to countdown to a grand finale reveal.
Like so many of the other leaks surrounding GTA 6, the 4Chan one is unverifiable and therefore needs to be heavily scrutinized and looked at with caution. That becomes especially true thanks to the location that it first popped up on the internet. As far as ideas go though, there's something to be said about the plausibility of Rockstar Games going down this route, thanks to the ongoing success games like Epic's Fortnite have shown to have when similar major seasonal events have been marketed properly. Considering Grand Theft Auto is one of the biggest names in town still, it seems likely that any event of this kind would become headline news across the globe, whilst simultaneously generating massive revenue within GTA Online.
Thanks to Rockstar's secretive nature and ability to conjure up surprises, it's almost impossible to know exactly what's happening behind the scenes with GTA 6's development. Being one of the biggest franchises in gaming means the IP will always generate a massive influx of faked leaks and rumors. With the chaotic nature of game development, enhanced by the amount of time Rockstar dedicates to each game, there's also high likelihood that any accurate leaked detail could also change long before fans get their hands on the final version game.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is rumored to be in development for unspecified platforms.