GTA 6's release date would have been one year ago if it had been released on its original schedule.

It's no secret that being in our current timeline is less than ideal. As we anxiously await the release of GTA 6, the latest installment in the hit game franchise, the disappointment only seems to grow. Take-Two, the company that owns Rockstar Games, recently revealed when the game was originally supposed to be released, and it's safe to say we are not in the favored timeline where everything goes according to plan.

If you've been keeping up with the news, you may have noticed that there have been no pre-orders for GTA 6 announced this week. And while we can never say never with Rockstar, it seems that the emails sent by Best Buy were simply a mistake. A verified insider on the GTA Forums even implied that Rockstar themselves were just as confused by the situation as the rest of us.

For fans of the series, this is just another disappointment to add to the list. But to add insult to injury, Take-Two's head honcho Strauss Zelnick has revealed the original release date for GTA 6 in that perfect timeline where nothing ever goes wrong. The game was supposed to be released on May 26th of this year or November 19th, but according to Zelnick, it's currently about 18 months behind schedule.

So if we do the math, that would put the game's original release date at May 19th, 2025. If everything had gone as planned, we would be celebrating the game's one-year anniversary today and speculating about future titles like Red Dead Redemption 3 or GTA 6 DLC. But unfortunately, this is not the case.

While the dates may line up with this week, Zelnick was not specific about when exactly the game was supposed to be released, only mentioning that it was about 18 months behind the original date in an interview with David Senra. Aside from the release date, there have also been questions about the budget for GTA 6. Rumors have been circulating that the game will cost up to £100 for the standard edition, but Zelnick has neither confirmed nor denied this.

He also hasn't disclosed the game's budget, which some estimates have placed at a whopping $3 billion – almost seven times more than the most expensive movie ever made. However, budgets for games are rarely made public, so there's no definitive figure for how much GTA 6 has actually cost. The latest estimates put it closer to $1 billion.

Of course, the longer the game takes to make, the higher the cost will be. So, not only are fans hoping for no further delays, but the company as well. Let's hope that the delays stay at just 18 months.

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