Now that Red Dead Redemption 2 has been released, to widespread acclaim, fans may well be wondering what Rockstar has planned next. GTA 5 has been the most successful video game of all time, but at this stage the game is almost six years old. Surely, Rockstar must be at least considering a sequel? As it happens, however, the studio has been rather mute thus far about GTA 6 or any other future project.
What Do We Know Already, and When Might Rockstar Announce GTA 6?
At present, Rockstar hasn’t announced any upcoming games. For years, since long before the release of GTA 5, there have been rumours circulating about a game called ‘Agent’; a project which was in development at Rockstar North. Supposedly, this game would take place during the Cold War. Concept art from Agent was leaked as recently as 2017, in fact. However, just a few months ago in November 2018; the US Patent and Trademark Office declared the game’s ‘Agent’ trademark as officially abandoned. As such, it seems that this game will not be seeing the light of day.
Given the massive and enduring success of GTA 5, and especially GTA Online, developing GTA 6 would seem to be Rockstar’s next logical step. Nevertheless, the studio certainly has the money and capability to do something totally different; it’s entirely possible that the studio could announce a new IP. After all, Rockstar has not yet made any public announcements that they are working on GTA. (Although it’s extremely likely that they are). In the past, there have been a number of leaks suggesting ongoing development of GTA 6. At least two sources have suggested that GTA 6 will feature a return to the setting of Vice City. However, even if this was true at the time, a lot can change during a game’s development. For instance, a separate leak claimed that Rockstar had considered Tokyo as a possible setting, but decided against it.
Whatever the case, it’s fair to guess that fans won’t be hearing anything from Rockstar in the near future. At least, likely not before E3 2019, when they may choose to tease at their next project. Industry analyst Michael Pachter predicted in 2017, during an interview with GamingBolt, that fans would see the next GTA launch as late as 2022. While that’s certainly possible, bear in mind that Pachter also recently predicted that The Elder Scrolls 6 will launch in 2019; a rather far-fetched prediction indeed! Given that Red Dead Redemption 2 has only just become available, it will probably be a year or two at the very least before Rockstar releases another game.