Last week, the Internet stumbled upon a Pastebin post that was originally written back in December of 2018. The post made a number of wild claims about the PlayStation 5, potentially revealing the PS5 launch titles, as well as some details about the console's games. One of the games mentioned in the leak is Grand Theft Auto 6, and while there is still no reason to believe the leak, the recent PS5 announcement by Sony seems to have convinced some that it may be legitimate.

According to the Pastebin post, which was said to be made by a third-party European developer working on a PS5 launch title, Grand Theft Auto 6 is due for release in 2020. It goes on to say that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be a timed-PlayStation 5 exclusive, with Sony paying Rockstar to have exclusivity rights for just one month after the game's launch. The logic behind this is that if Grand Theft Auto 6 is a PS5 launch title as the leak claims, and the PS5 and next-gen Xbox come out at the same time, consumers would be compelled to go with the PS5 over the new Xbox so they could play the new GTA right away.

Again, there is no evidence to back up this claim, and most of the rumors until now have pointed to Bully 2 being the next game from Rockstar, not Grand Theft Auto 6. It also seems unlikely that if Sony secured timed-exclusivity rights to Grand Theft Auto 6 that it would be only for one month and not for a year, which is fairly standard when it comes to timed-exclusives in the industry. Despite the unlikelihood of the leak being real, though, Sony's PS5 reveal has at least made it seem as though it's possible developers have had PS5 dev kits since the time the "leaker" wrote the Pastebin post. Previously, the belief that PS5 dev kits had yet to be produced was one of the main arguments against the "leak" being real.

rumor patrol: gta 6 is timed ps5 exclusive

Even though the existence of PS5 dev kits makes it a little more possible for the GTA 6 leak to be legitimate, we still caution fans to take it all with a massive grain of salt. Actual industry insiders have said PS5 dev kits have yet to be sent to developers, and that very few developers have even been briefed on what exactly next-gen consoles will entail.

However, it's easy to see why some people want to believe the leak. While the timed PS5 exclusivity deal may rub some fans the wrong way, other claims made in the leak make GTA 6 sound especially exciting. For example, the leak claims that GTA 6 will have two cities, allowing players to explore not just Vice City, but the returning Liberty City as well.

The claim that GTA 6 could come out as early as next year is also appealing to fans of the franchise, as it's been six years since the launch of Grand Theft Auto 5. Anything is possible, but we wouldn't count on GTA 6 coming in 2020, so fans should still wait for official news from Rockstar before getting too excited about anything regarding the Grand Theft Auto franchise or the company's next game.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is rumored to be in development for next-gen consoles, including the PS5.

Source: Pastebin