And if you believe rumors of a reboot in 2020…well, it’s anyone’s guess how far back it truly began. We’re free to speculate as to why, but former audio engineer Rob Carr offered his own take on the long development cycle: The RAGE Engine, or rather, Rockstar North revamping it from the ground up.

“I’ve got zero experience,” he told Kiwi Talks in a recent interview. “I know nothing about it, other than the fact that they probably will have – given the time frame of how long it’s taken them to get to this stage, they’ve probably rebuilt the entirety of the Rage Engine. That’s the only thing I can say with real, genuine confidence.

“I’ll be amazed if they didn’t because the architecture of technology has advanced significantly since GTA 5, which again, is easy to forget. That was three generations ago. That was the last one to be released on 360 and PS3. You know, everyone forgets that because it’s still…up until recently, GTA Online was still a going concern. That’s a good tenure for a game for any game, you know, and that’s on the PS5.”

Between a former graphics programmer claiming they worked on “next generation procedural breaking glass” and rumors of realistic weather and real-time, physically simulated water, it wouldn’t be too surprising. However, it’s also possible that some things seen in Grand Theft Auto 5 could make their way over to Grand Theft Auto 6.

“There are things for sure I feel that they did in GTA 5 that they will definitely want to expand on and use as either a core mechanic or a main plot point or something in GTA 6. I’d be incredibly surprised if they don’t do anything like that. I’d be very, very surprised. But again, I’m coming in blind.”

While Red Dead Redemption 2 was mentioned as another title that Rockstar could potentially take from, Carr cited mechanics like Dead Eye from the first game and how it appeared in GTA 5. “Even on GTA 5, they took the Dead Eye system, and they used it as one of the perks.

“You’ve got the Dead Eye thing that Michael used. I think you’ve got the slow-mo driving thing for Franklin and the Berserker mode for Trevor. You know, they’re all things that, you know, key things that they’ve been used in previous sort of titles that they wanted to sort of expand upon.”

It would be interesting if certain mechanics from Grand Theft Auto Online also made an appearance (besides in what multiplayer mode Rockstar has included). For now, Grand Theft Auto 6 is slated to launch on November 19th for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. With launch marketing beginning this Summer, it’s not long before we learn more, so stay tuned.

Discovered by Reddit user Due-Vanilla-8294, these costs seemingly encompass employee wages and salaries reaching back to March 2019. The address corresponds to Rockstar North’s location, and as of March 31st, 2025, the average monthly employees is 1,744, a noticeable jump from a year prior when it was 1,658.

Of course, this likely doesn’t include marketing, and since these are only the developer’s costs, we don’t know if there are any associated with whatever support studios may be involved. Companies House also clarifies that despite carrying out “basic checks on documents received to make sure that they have been fully completed and signed,” it doesn’t possess “the statutory power or capability to verify the accuracy of the information that companies send to us.”

“The fact that the information has been placed on the public record should not be taken to indicate that Companies House has verified or validated it in any way.”

That said, if it is accurate, then this is only the expenditure as of March 31st, 2025. Imagine an additional year’s worth of costs, plus nine additional months, since Grand Theft Auto 6 will launch on November 19th. It could easily cross $3 billion, easily making it the most expensive video game ever developed. You had a nice run, Monopoly Go!, but it may be coming to an end soon.

As always, stay tuned for further updates and head here to learn more about the “next-gen” glass that Grand Theft Auto 6 will seemingly have.

This was reportedly discovered on the LinkedIn profile of a former graphics programmer, who worked at the company from February 2020 to April 2023. They took the lead on implementing this system for vehicles and props while also being responsible for “designing tools for production to capture in-game footage with extra details from our rendering system.”

As soon as this was all discovered, however, they apparently went about wiping every single detail, only specifying that they worked on Grand Theft Auto 6 for a little over three years. If former employees signed an NDA (and you’d have to think Rockstar would mandate it), then it would make sense. After all, it’s been more than a little antsy about alleged leaks over the past several months.

Grand Theft Auto 6 will be available on November 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PS5 (barring any further delays). At this point, such an apparently detailed system for procedural breakable glass may only be one of the major details that it has in store. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months, especially as its release draws near.

He noted that, while Project Genie’s outputs can potentially “look like NBA 2K or EA Sports FC or Red Dead Redemption,” actually creating interactive game worlds tends to involve a lot more effort, and “is a completely different animal and does require human engagement [and] creativity.”

Zelnick believes that, while there is a potential use case for this AI-based technology, at least when it comes to making assets, it ultimately won’t help anyone “create hits”. Even when it comes to asset creation, he noted that there are plenty of assets available for developers to use.

“I was kind of stunned by the market’s reaction, because the market’s reaction was somehow seeing it as a threat to what we do, when it’s quite obvious that creation tools are beneficial for our industry,” he said. “I think the […] case for big entertainment companies is somehow that AI tools will mean everyone can create hits, doesn’t stand to reason.”

“These tools may help you create assets, but that won’t help you create hits. There are loads of assets out there now. It doesn’t matter if you push a button to create an asset, or it takes you six weeks, at the end of the day, you have an asset. And thousands of mobile games are launched every year, and there are a handful of hits.”

“The notion that somehow new tools would allow an individual to push a button and generate a hit, market a hit, and bring it to many millions of consumers around the world — it’s a laughable notion,” Zelnick continued. “It’s just never been the case with entertainment.”

In the same interview, Zelnick also spoke about how he isn’t too worried about the older audience for Grand Theft Auto 6 having to juggle real-life responsibilities with spending time in a massive open-world game. He noted that Take-Two Interactive has games that “appeal to all audiences,” and that fans of the GTA franchise that grew up playing 4 and 5 will be able to engage with GTA 6 just fine.

“I think we’re gonna have a lot of 17-year-olds playing GTA 6,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any risk of being like, ‘All right, yeah, if I didn’t play five or four or three or two or one, I’m not showing up.’ I think we’ll be able to engage every appropriate individual in GTA 6.”

Grand Theft Auto 6 is being developed for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and is currently slated for release on November 19th. While the franchise has traditionally also seen PC versions coming out some time after the console launch, neither Rockstar Games nor Take-Two Interactive have made any such announcement yet.

When asked how older audiences, like those who have families to handle, could get bogged down with these responsibilities and not be able to enjoy Grand Theft Auto 6, Zelnick noted that the company has many games, like the NBA 2K and WWE 2K franchises, that can “appeal to all audiences.” He continued: “Others are specifically tailored at audiences that are 17 and above, for example, GTA. We serve all audiences and we market our products appropriately to the audience in question.”

As for audiences that may have grown up playing Rockstar’s previous titles like Grand Theft Auto 4 and 5, Zelnick isn’t too worried there either.

“I think we’re gonna have a lot of 17-year-olds playing GTA 6,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any risk of being like, ‘All right, yeah, if I didn’t play five or four or three or two or one, I’m not showing up.’ I think we’ll be able to engage every appropriate individual in GTA 6.”

For fans that may have grown up as gamers, Zelnick has a message: “If you fell in love with video games at 17 and you’re 40, guess what? You still do? Play video games.”

As the open-world title gets closer to its November 19th release date for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games are also getting ready for a major marketing push. Zelnick had spoken about this last month, noting that the game’s development is on track to not see further delays, and that plans for “marketing beats” over the Summer will continue as well.

“Well because we actually, obviously, track progress daily of everything that we do,” he said when asked about how he could be so sure that GTA 6 wouldn’t see yet another delay. “And we obviously announced that we have marketing beats coming this Summer. And we don’t spend money on marketing until we’re pretty close to release.”

He went on to discuss how, despite Grand Theft Auto 6 being a massive upcoming release, the company still has to spend time and money to market it. While there is awareness of the game in the industry, he noted that there also has to be energy for it.

“I think there’s a difference between awareness and energy, and we need to create the energy,” Zelnick explained. “We do have the awareness, the anticipation is huge, it’s bigger than ever before, but in our business you do have to tell people what’s coming and our consumers wanna know that this is gonna be great and they wanna see what the visuals look like.”

A recent report of Grand Theft Auto 6‘s IDs being added to the PlayStation Store backend have lent further credence to the title sticking to its planned release date later this year.

According to PlayStation Game Size on Twitter, which has access to the back-end, title IDs for Grand Theft Auto 6 were recently added to the store. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that pre-orders will begin soon, but more that they’re potentially on track for whenever Rockstar is ready to announce them.

Launch marketing will begin this Summer, according to Zelnick, and with the Summer Game Fest showcase set for June, pre-orders could open shortly after the new trailer debuts. It also wouldn’t be too surprising if various outlets managed to go hands-on with the title, revealing even more details.

In the meantime, Grand Theft Auto 6 launches on November 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PS5. Despite its physical release allegedly being delayed by several weeks to prevent spoilers, Zelnick confirmed this wasn’t the case. He also assured that it wasn’t using any generative AI, and that everything was hand-built “from the ground up” by Rockstar Games.

“This game, this could be Game of the Year, okay. Mark my words,” said York about Crimson Desert, praising its open-world activities and variety from recent trailers. “And the reason for that is because of how much you can get lost in this game… it really is a contender when it comes to all the cool stuff all this game kind of has to offer.”

“If GTA VI drops the ball, [Crimson Desert] could be Game of the Year,” York added. “If GTA VI wasn’t here at all this year, [Crimson Desert] would probably take Game of the Year, from what it looks like.”

This isn’t the first time that York has spoken about Grand Theft Auto 6. Back in December, he noted that Rockstar Games is unlikely to delay the highly-anticipated yet again, since it risks losing out on much of the hype it has been generating.

“If Rockstar Games delay GTA 6 again then the hype around the game will die down almost completely. Right now, nobody is searching for GTA 6,” said York. “Everyone knows there’s no news, there’s nothing to talk about… There’s a point to where you delay something so much that you start to make people angry.”

He also spoke about the potential reasons behind the last few delays, talking about how the developers are likely working on making GTA 6 as well-polished as they can.

“If I know Rockstar Games, and I know the guys over there, one of the reasons for the delay in releasing GTA 6 is because they’re trying to make it look as best as it can possibly be,” York said. “They’re polishing stuff. I don’t think they’re completely finished with the game, given how much is on the line and how big everyone’s expectations are for it.”

York has also previously praised the trailers released for Grand Theft Auto 6, going as far as to say that tie title will likely end up looking just as good as it looks in the videos. “I’m really impressed with how far they’re bringing the graphics for an in-game kind of version of this,” he said. “A lot of times you see [cinematics used], this is not that, when you play this game, it’s really gonna look like this.”

While you wait for the November 19th release date of Grand Theft Auto 6 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, you can check out some of the details developer Pearl Abyss has revealed about Crimson Desert. In an interview from earlier this week, marketing director Will Powers discussed the game’s dynamic weather system, and how it will affect gameplay as well as cutscenes. The studio has also confirmed that the game is fully voiced by human actors.

Grand Theft Auto 6

Rockstar’s upcoming return to Vice City is easily the biggest open-world release on the horizon, and the perfect candidate to start off the list. Grand Theft Auto 6 promises a living, breathing world packed with dynamic NPC routines, reactive law enforcement, and an unprecedented level of environmental detail. The dual protagonists inspired by the adventures of Bonnie and Clyde look to be a promising storyline filled with several emotional moments. Of course, missions, side activities, and emergent mayhem are also important pillars of the experience – so we are definitely looking forward to this one.

Answering a question about how Take-Two Interactive can be so sure about the November 19th release happening, Zelnick said that “Well because we actually, obviously, track progress daily of everything that we do. And we obviously announced that we have marketing beats coming this Summer. And we don’t spend money on marketing until we’re pretty close to release.”

As for whether or not a release as big and highly-anticipated as Grand Theft Auto 6 actually needs much of a marketing push behind it, Zelnick noted that the company has to show fans how the upcoming game will look. He said that, while there is awareness of the game in the industry, there also has to be energy for it.

“I think there’s a difference between awareness and energy, and we need to create the energy,” he explained. “We do have the awareness, the anticipation is huge, it’s bigger than ever before, but in our business you do have to tell people what’s coming and our consumers wanna know that this is gonna be great and they wanna see what the visuals look like.”

Publishing a game as big as Grand Theft Auto 6 also presents its own challenges, said Zelnick, who noted that “the marketing has to be delicate. It has to feel like this is real. This is not… we’re not selling hamburgers. We’re selling this unique art form.”

Zelnick had spoken about the marketing plans being in place to kick off in Summer in a statement earlier this month. “Our execution throughout Fiscal 2026 has been extraordinary, and we are highly confident as we approach Fiscal 2027 – which promises to be groundbreaking for Take-Two and the entire entertainment industry – led by the November 19th release of Grand Theft Auto 6 with Rockstar’s launch marketing set to begin this Summer,” he said.

Interestingly, rumors had popped up last month about Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive potentially foregoing a physical release for Grand Theft Auto 6 during its launch window in order to avoid any potential leaks. However, Zelnick confirmed in a statement that there are no such plans in the works. When asked about this during a recent earnings call, he simply said, “That’s not the plan.”

The November 19th release date on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S comes after Grand Theft Auto 6 faced many delays. There have also been rumors about a potential Switch 2 version being tested. However, neither it, nor the inevitable PC release have been confirmed for the time being. Zelnick has also spoken about how GTA 6‘s development doesn’t make use of generative AI tools for any of its creative aspects.

A new report by The Verge’s Tom Warren alleged release dates for several big titles, including Halo: Campaign Evolved targeting this Summer. Gears of War: E-Day, another 2026 release, is reportedly looking at the second half of the year. As already announced, Fable will arrive this Fall, but you can expect it sometime before November 19th, which is when Rockstar’s magnum opus finally launches.

As for Kiln, Double Fine’s pottery-meets-competitive-multiplayer title, it’s apparently launching in April – just one month before Forza Horizon 6. Based on the lack of rumors about Clockwork Revolution, State of Decay 3 and so on, it seems likely that they’ll launch next year.

In the meantime, Microsoft doesn’t just have to work out the releases for its biggest games, but also their marketing. It would lend credence to rumors of another Developer_Direct to go along with its usual Summer showcase and Gamescom presence. Still, it wouldn’t be surprising to see it drop extensive overviews and other announcements out of the blue (like the rumored PS5 release of Starfield).

Here’s hoping that a potential price increase for the Xbox Series X/S isn’t one of them.