Grand Theft Auto V continues to dominate the PS4 and Xbox One sales charts, and that’s probably bad news for gamers waiting on the GTA 6 release date. It’s almost shocking to think that there might not be a new Grand Theft Auto game released solely for the PS4 and Xbox One this console generation. Many analysts believe that the release of GTA 6 will happen during 2021. GTA 5 started life on the PS3 and Xbox 360 and while it made an impressive switch to the current Sony and Microsoft consoles, that happened years ago.
The standard procedure would have seen Rockstar Games release GTA 6 before the end of the current gaming cycle.
Rockstar Games have been launching on consoles first, followed by PC later in recent years, and there’s a lot of PS4 and Xbox One owners out there right now.
But from what has been shared by parent company Take-Two Interactive this year, it seems less likely that this will happen, at least in 2020.
Following an earnings report from TT2, it appears that GTA 5 Online will remain a key part of future revenue for the company. It was confirmed that GTA Online is on track to break more records in 2020, having had a stonking time of its last year.
“Grand Theft Auto Online once again exceeded our expectations, delivering the best holiday quarter ever for both audience size and net bookings,” Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick revealed.
“GTA Online had its biggest back-to-back records in terms of player numbers, with record audience size in December and in the third quarter following the Diamond Casino and Resort update in July, and the Diamond and Casino Heist in December.
“We’re not on track to deliver a new record in Grand Theft Auto Online recurrent consumer spending in Fiscal 2020.”
With the PS4 and Xbox One remaining the main consoles for much of 2020, there’s no reason for Take-Two Interactive to push for a GTA 6 release this year.
There’s no doubt the next Grand Theft Auto will sell very well and the PS4 and Xbox One have sold a lot of units.
But the hardware limitations of both consoles – having launched back in 2013 – could cause long-term issues for GTA Online.
The PS5 and Xbox Series X could be on track to provide 12 Teraflops when they launch later this year and that’s a big step up.
So if GTA Online continues to smash targets, why not wait until the PS5 and Xbox X have become established before launching GTA 6? The added firepower coming with the next-gen shift will provide more opportunities for content in GTA Online.
GTA 5 Online remains very popular but it has hit a wall when it comes to new content creation. The launch of the Casino helped refresh what was on offer but it will be surprising to see something quite as new arrive in the future.
With GTA 6 on PS5 and Xbox Series X, Rockstar Games will be able to explore much bigger ideas for their popular multiplayer mode. The Motley Fool points out that Take-Two Interactive’s recent earnings report sparked questions over the future growth of the company.
Questions are being raised but they’re not in connection with a drop in interest for GTA Online.
“The revenue shortfall didn’t have anything to do with Take-Two’s pillar franchise Grand Theft Auto,” the report from Motley Fool adds.
“The game that has now sold more than 120 million units over the last six years continues to bring in more players. Recurrent user spending on Grand Theft Auto Online grew 54% year over year during the quarter.
“Likewise, Red Dead Redemption 2 “continues to gain momentum” as CEO Strauss Zelnick highlighted, “both in terms of engagement and recurrent consumer spending.” Net bookings for Red Dead Online tripled year over year, as well as over the previous quarter. The latest content update for Red Dead, Moonshiners, was well received as the title hit a new peak in the number of people logging in to play.
“Digging into management’s comments on the earnings call, it’s clear the company is doing just fine. Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2 have sold more than 150 million units worldwide with more than 250 million player accounts created to date.”