GTA 6 might be further away than you think

We're still waiting on GTA 6 news and its' starting to become one of the hottest conversational topics around the virtual water cooler.

While we wait for anything specific though, we've got some news that GTA 5 fans will be interested in...

LATEST - GTA 5 Is Back On Game Pass

Unusually, Grand Theft Auto V has made a grand return to Xbox's Game Pass service.

This could just be "one of those things", but many are feeling that it might be preluding an announcement from Rockstar Games about the next-gen version of GTA 5 that's due to launch sometime this year.

GTA 5 is joining Xbox's Game Pass on April 8th, the same day as Zombie Army 4: Dead War, Disneyland Adventures, and Rush: A Disney/Pixar Adventure.

READ MORE: Xbox Game Pass April 2021 Games Detailed

A Quiet Generation

When it came to new titles, the last-generation was very quiet for Rockstar, with Red Dead Redemption 2 being the only major new game released.

Instead, we saw a series of ports released including GTA V and Bully.

If the current rumours are true, we can expect more of the same this generation too.

Ports, Ports, Ports

During a PS5 showcase event last year, it was revealed that GTA V will be getting a next-gen port in 2021.

This will mean that GTA V will have spanned three generations, having released on the Xbox 360/PS3 in 2013, before being ported to the PS4/Xbox One in 2014.

It has been over seven years since the initial release of GTA V and, despite many rumours, an official confirmation of GTA 6 has never been released by Rockstar, and we could be waiting a lot longer for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series.

In addition to the next-gen GTA V port, it is currently being rumoured that we will see a port of 2010's Red Dead Redemption, as well as the remasters/remakes of the classic GTA trilogy, GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas that originally released on the PlayStation 2 in the early 2000s.

Rockstar is also working on a brand new IP too, so while it looks to be a busy generation for Rockstar, so far all of their plans seem to not include GTA 6.

More Than Just A Port

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, Take-Two Interactive's CEO Strauss Zelnick gave some insight into the companies mindset regarding remasters and what to expect from the GTA V remaster for next-gen consoles.

"Remastering has always been a part of the strategy. We’ve done differently than the competition – we don’t just port titles over, we actually take the time to do the very best job we can make the title different for the new release, for the new technology that we’re launching it on."

He then went on to discuss the process for the remasters saying,

"So, we improve technology, we upgrade the visuals, and we make performance enhancements, and that’s why I think our remastered titles typically do so well.”

Zelnik concluded by discussing the impact that GTA V has had over the previous two generations,

“We’ve done great with the Mafia series, for example, and Grand Theft Auto V is now heading into its third generation which is incredible. It was a standard-bearer when it was launched, it continued to be the standard-bearer in the second generation, we’ll see how Grand Theft Auto does in the next generation. Obviously, I’m confident that Rockstar is going to deliver just a great experience, but you can’t do that if you’re just doing a simple port.”

So far a release date for the next-gen GTA V remaster hasn't been set, just we know it will be released in 2021.

Autumn/winter 2021 seems likely as that is when most big titles launch.

It is likely we will get an official release date in the coming months, possibly around late spring/early summer when E3 2021 is meant to take place.

The live E3 conferences and events have been cancelled but the show is still going ahead as an all-digital event, which is great news and it was cancelled last year and left a void for many fans that look forward to it each year.

What This All Means For GTA 6

Taking into account what Zelnik said during the conference, and the current rumours surrounding future remasters, Rockstar seem to have their hands full for the foreseeable which means it will be unlikely that we will see GTA 6 any time soon.

The current release date is rumoured to be the end of 2023, it has been reported that Take-Two Interactive has set aside approximately $89 million for marketing in 2023, which is a huge amount that is only reserved for major releases, such as a GTA game.

That release window still leaves enough time for Rockstar to finish all of their remasters.

GTA V is scheduled to release later this year, it is also reported that another development team is in charge of the PS2 trilogy remasters, which frees up Rockstar.

And, if the RDR remaster is happening, that will likely be done by another studio too, or at least another subdivision of Rockstar, leaving Rockstar North free to focus on GTA 6.

So, if the 2023 release date is true, we could have plenty of Rockstar games to play over this current generation.