A developer who previously worked at Grand Theft Auto 6 studio Rockstar Games has revealed that development work on the highly-anticipated open-world game started in 2018. Spotted by ResetEra user nolifebr, the developer, a former environment artist for Rockstar, revealed this in a video where he reacted to the latest screenshots.
According to the video, artist David O’Reilly, who spent 12 years at the studio, said that he previously worked on games like Grand Theft Auto 6 from 2018 to his departure in 2023. Work on the title started right after wrapping up Red Dead Redemption 2.
“It’s fascinating having a look at all this stuff, you know, because, as we’ve seen from [trailer 2], the lighting is just so nice, and they put some secret sauce on all that sort of stuff,” said David.
“Because everything just looks so different than when I last saw it. Granted, most of my viewing of it was in debug mode and stuff, very much development environment. And when you see it in trailer form, it’s a different thing altogether because it’s just ultra-polished. It’s just looking its best, and everything’s curated. It looks so nice and well presented.”
Grand Theft Auto 6 received its second trailer just last week and instantly took all video game discussion by storm. It quickly amassed more than 90 million views in its first day on YouTube alone.
When taking all video platforms into account, the trailer had crossed 475 million views in its first 24 hours of release. It was big enough to beat the debut trailers for movies like Deadpool and Wolverine and Fantastic Four: The First Steps.
It also gave us a much longer look at Grand Theft Auto 6. Along with some gameplay snippets, it showcased various locations throughout Vice City and the state of Leonida, as well as some of the characters, including the dual protagonists Jason and Lucia.
While it was originally planned for release in Fall 2025, Rockstar Games has since announced that Grand Theft Auto 6 will instead be released on May 26, 2026, for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. While there is no confirmation for a PC release yet, going by series tradition, we will likely see it happen around a year after the console release.
In the meantime, check out what analysts are saying about how the delay in release date affects the gaming industry as a whole.
