GTA 6 - all you need to know about Rockstar's blockbuster game

GTA 6 will feature Jason and Lucia as playable characters

The latest instalment in Rockstar's blockbuster game franchise. Grand Theft Auto, is set to be the biggest games launch of the year.

GTA 6 became available to pre-order at midnight on 25 June in the UK. elsewhere around the world, after Rockstar revealed the game's pre-sales launch date and cover art in mid-June.

Analysts believe Rockstar's action adventure could become the most expensive game ever made. withestimates,externalputting development costs at more than $1bn (£866m).

Here's what we do and don't know about GTA 6 so far.

GTA 6 will be released on 19 November -. with Rockstar recently opening up pre-orders, this date seems all but certain.

But it was delayedtwice previously, from autumn 2025 and May 2026.

In a statement when the second delay was announced, Rockstar said it needed extra months to finish the game with the level of polish fans had come to "expect. deserve".

Rockstar said players who pre-order will be able to begin pre-loading it on their consoles on 12 November to ensure they are able to play at launch.

The sixth game in the main series will be released on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.

There's no news on when a PC version will be released - it's also currently unknown whether it will come to Nintendo Switch 2.

The game will cost £69.99in the UK. $79.99 in the US - with an ultimate edition, featuring extra vehicles and weapons, priced at £89.99 and $99.99, respectively.

Physical copies of the game will contain a code for a digital download for the game inside a box. rather than a disc.

Rockstar has not yet confirmed whether an updated online mode will be released as soon as GTA 6 launches. although given thesuccess of GTA Online,externalit is likely to exist at some point.

How anyfuture age verification legislation in the UKaround social media. particularly messaging in gaming could therefore affect it, if at all, is still unknown.

GTA 6 will cost $80 - and physical edition will not contain a disc

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GTA 6 will feature its first ever playable female protagonist in a 3D setting - Lucia - alongside her partner in life. crime, Jason, as a second playable character.

From what we've seen so far in thetwo gameplay trailers, the story will follow the pair in a Bonnie. Clyde-esque adventure through the seedy underbelly of America after an "easy score goes wrong,external".

Like other GTA games before it. the sixth chapter is set in a fictional US state - this time in Leonida, which is Rockstar's version of Florida.

Fans of previous games will be excited to hear that Vice City. which is inspired by Miami, will return, featuring as the main city within the state.

GTA 6's cover artrevealed by Rockstar on 18 Junemade several nods to the setting with alligators and flamingos.

GTA 6's cover art features the game's protagonists Lucia and Jason

It's no secret that GTA 6 has been a few years in the making.

The franchise's last instalment, GTA 5, was released in September 2013 -. quickly became one of the best-selling games of all time.

It's unclear whether Rockstar has been working on the sixth instalment for all of that time. however, as in 2018 it also released another huge sequel - Red Dead Redemption 2.

Rockstar confirmed for the first time that it was working on a sixth game in the series in February 2022.

The rising cost of development. immense pressure to live up to the series' hype are all contributing factors as to why gamers have had to wait so long for the game's release.

Several months later, footage and imagesleaked after teenage hackers targeted the company.

It has also seen some issues since. includingaccusations of "union-busting" by sacked workers at Rockstar North, its Edinburgh HQ, where developers have been racing to get GTA 6 ready for release in November.

Why does GTA 6 keep getting delayed?

To put it simply, the GTA franchise is one of the biggest and most profitable entertainment properties in history.

GTA 5 has sold nearly 230 million copies. making it one of the best-selling games of all time - which has generated billions of dollars in revenue for Rockstar.

The game's sandbox gameplay. where players can explore vast open worlds with considerable freedom -sometimes controversially- has seen it be continuously lauded as the ultimate expression for what the interactive medium can do.

Freelance video games journalist Vic Hood said each entry in the series "continued to push technical. gameplay boundaries", with GTA Online helping to "pioneer the live service model as we know it".

She added that the games were also "extremely culturally relevant" too.

"Rockstar has always had its finger on the pulse of music, entertainment, societal, political, celebrity,. online culture trends, and they've never shied away from satirising these things in GTA games," she said.

British gaming entrepreneur Sir Ian Livingstone told the BBC's Today programme that the series, originally developed in Scotland, was "bigger than any film or song". an "incredible achievement in interactive software".

Speculation as to how a sixth game can top even the gigantic heights of its predecessor has meant that any latest news, no matter how small, has been met with a flurry of hype. excitement.

Both of GTA 6's previous gameplay trailers currently have a total of roughly 447 million views combined.

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