There’s concern over Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6 after its latest delay, especially with the recent firings (which are reportedly not connected). Still, it is a new Grand Theft Auto and as Chris Stockman, who directed the original Saints Row, told FRVR, “It’s going to be the biggest game, probably of all time.”
“The only way for someone to really give them a run for their money is if they have a huge misstep. If it comes out and it’s terrible, God forbid the industry, oh my gosh, right? It’s E.T. all over again, but worse because of the budgets. It’s going to be a complete disaster. I don’t expect that to happen, but, if it is, oh my.”
You can thank Grand Theft Auto Online for that, which Stockman believes has propelled the franchise “beyond just a game” into a lifestyle. Assuming it doesn’t meet expectations, either critically or commercially, that “number two” position will become even more essential than ever.
“The industry is bigger than it’s ever been in the sense that people hunger for games. People hunger for new experiences. I think it’s entirely possible to be a number two; there’s nothing wrong with trying to be a number two if you play your cards right,” said Stockman.
“You don’t go crazy, you be very focused. You don’t look at GTA as a North Star and say, ‘I wanna be that’. You have a clear identity, and this is what you’re trying to do. And you don’t have to be a 100-hour masterpiece, and you just gotta be smart about it.”
Accomplishing this means a “go back to basics” approach, where a title has its own identity rather than trying to directly compete. It makes sense, even if no other developer has been able to accomplish this since the release of Grand Theft Auto 5, which surpassed 220 million units sold. Even Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar’s own game, has only sold over 79 million (and the less said about Red Dead Online, the better).
Then again, it launched five years later and has yet to receive a current-gen update. As for Grand Theft Auto 6, it releases on November 19th, 2026, for Xbox Series X/S and PS5, and Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is feeling confident about the date.
