It's no understatement to say that fans are extremely eager to learn anything about GTA VI, the next main installment in the biggest industry franchise. After all, in September 2023 it'll be ten years since the release of GTA V, whereas the time gap between GTA IV and V was only half as long.
According to some analysts, that's right around the time GTA VI could be actually released. They inferred this based on a statement shared by Take-Two as part of the proposed acquisition of Zynga. The press release said:
Looking ahead, the combined company is expected to deliver a 14% compound annual growth rate for Net Bookings (excluding the annual Net Bookings opportunities and any future acquisitions) over the three-year period from Take-Two’s Fiscal Years 2021 through 2024.
As reported by Axios, a Jefferies analyst said there's only a handful of IPs that could provide Take-Two with such confidence, so at least one Rockstar IP should be launched by fiscal year 2024.
Doug Creutz from Cowen was even more specific than that, saying that the projected $9 billion in bookings could indicate a GTA VI launch in that fiscal year, which runs from April 2023 to March 2024. This roughly lines up with the rumored late 2023 release date that Rockstar had supposedly set for the game internally.
Meanwhile, the launch of GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition definitely didn't go as planned. Rockstar outsourced it to Grove Street Games, but the results were so disappointing that the studio offered a free PC game to all owners.
We'll see if the release of GTA V and GTA Online on next-generation consoles goes better. Scheduled to launch in March 2022, it'll feature 'a range of technical improvements, visual upgrades and performance enhancements to take full advantage of the latest hardware, making the game more beautiful and more responsive than ever'.
