Is Rockstar Games taking too long to announce plans for GTA 6?

It only takes one glance at any of Rockstar Games' social media posts or Youtube channel to figure out exactly what the audience cares about at this particular moment in time: GTA 6.

Regardless of the content that Rockstar might put out on any of their social media, the comment section is bombarded with mentions of GTA 6 and apparent disdain for the content currently in development. Only Rockstar Games can generate this surreal amount of hype behind a game that doesn't have so much as a single promotional image.

AAA game development is an extremely precarious tightrope act that involves a lot of careful planning and execution. GTA 6, for better or for worse, is perhaps the most highly anticipated entry in the series, which is saying a lot.

Is Rockstar Games taking too long to announce plans for GTA 6?

The release of each GTA game post-III and Vice City have been preceded by enormous fanfare and is nothing less than a global event. The games have been celebrated for nearly two decades in the industry and have a near-perfect track record (if we're all willing to forget GTA Advance).

Not too many franchises and publishers have seen the kind of success that the Grand Theft Auto franchise and Rockstar Games. It only takes recent examples of AAA game releases to understand how much pressure there is on the studio to deliver and follow up on seminal pieces of work in the industry.

Case: Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt is regarded as one of the most seminal pieces of work in the modern games industry. The open-world RPG has set the standards by which every other game in the genre will be measured up against, and it is an unbelievably tough act to follow.

The recently released Cyberpunk 2077, the next project from CD Projekt Red after The Witcher 3, had enormous amount of expectations leading up to its release. The game had spent a while in development and fan pressure was beginning to build with each delay.

Ultimately, the game was released in a state that did nothing but hurt the studio and the publisher's reputation. This, undoubtedly, is going to serve as a cautionary tale for years to come.

Rockstar Games is playing it safe with the GTA sequel

Rather than falling fast and hard on their face with a rushed release, Rockstar Games are attempting to not tarnish their reputation. The publishing giants recently took a massive hit in terms of reputation when reports of excruciating crunch made the headlines during the development of Red Dead Redemption II.

GTA 6 is an enormously large title to tackle and one that will take years upon years to polish and to be released in a state that is in line with Rockstar's standards. Therefore, for the sake of both the players and the studio, the longer the game spends in development, the better it will be.

The simple logic is that a polished product will satisfy both the fans, and also help the publisher sell more with favourable reception. Therefore, it only makes sense for Rockstar to spend more time in development and announce GTA 6 at a time when they feel confident enough with the game.