Copyright Wccftech
A few hours ago, Rockstar Games announced the second GTA VI delay. Originally slated to launch in Fall 2025, the game was moved to May 26, 2026 on May 2, 2025. However, the studio has now requested more time to polish the game, which will launch on November 19, 2026. The news came just before Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two, announced its Q2 2026 financial results. Predictably, investors questioned Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick on the matter during the earnings call; the executive stated that this new GTA VI delay will allow Rockstar not only to surpass but also to exceed the incredibly high expectations of fans. Furthermore, Zelnick highlighted that the developer and publisher had never regretted delaying their games before, whereas some other players in the industry had decided not to delay their games and suffered as a result. Here's the exact quote: The drivers are the desire to deliver as perfect an entertainment experience as we possibly can and to try to live up to consumers’ extraordinary expectations and then exceed those expectations. It is always painful when we move a date. We have done so occasionally in the past, and we have never regretted it in retrospect. I would like to point out that we have some competitors that, in the event where more polish was required and it required slipping a date, they chose not to slip the date, and they did so at their peril. Indeed, Rockstar previously delayed key games. Grand Theft Auto IV and V were both delayed once, and Red Dead Redemption 2 got delayed twice. We also know that Rockstar doesn't settle for anything short of extraordinary, and with the sequel to GTA V, the bar is even higher considering that it's the second best-selling premium game of all time after Minecraft. While the GTA VI delay was clearly the big news of the day, the earnings call also saw questions about other recent releases, such as Gearbox's Borderlands 4. Zelnick admitted that Borderlands 4, despite a strong critical reception, was selling a bit less than expected, and attributed that to the widely reported PC optimization 'challenges' at launch. Still, the executive expressed confidence that over time, the game's performance would be 'very solid' and in line with the original estimates. On the other hand, Mafia: The Old Country was reported as having better than anticipated sales, which probably means we'll get another game in that vein (narrative-focused, relatively short, budget-priced).
