Why Grand Theft Auto 6 shouldn’t be expected to release on PC until 2026

In 2020, PC Gamer strategic director Evan Lahti saidthat the PC won the “console war,” and that statement is even more true today.

The PC has always been characterized by customization, modding, and almost unlimited backwards compatibility. In recent years, these advantages have been increased as many exclusive games from consoles have started to be released on PCs.

Microsoft has effectively abandoned the exclusivity of its games for consoles, and Nintendo, despite how hard it tries, cannot prevent games from being ported to PC. Although Sony maintains an exclusivity of six months or a year for some of its main releases, which makes sense in the context of its strategy to support its own platforms. However, there is still one big problem in this series – there is always a long delay in the release of Rockstar Games games on PC, and this causes confusion.

Examples of delays in the release of Rockstar games speak for themselves:

• Grand Theft Auto 3: 7 months between console and PC release

• Deputy: 7 months

• San Andreas: 8 months

• Bully: 2 years

• GTA 4: 7 months

• Red Dead Redemption: 14 years, 5 months

• GTA 5: 1 year, 6 months

• Red Dead Redemption 2: 1 year

Delays like Square Enix’s Final Fantasy series can be attributed to special deals with Sony that did not meet expectations. But for Rockstar, there is no such simple explanation.

Their biggest hits, such as Red Dead Redemption and GTA 5, were delayed in arriving on PC, which begs the question – why? This was particularly evident with the first Red Dead Redemption, which was released on Nintendo Switch earlier than on PC, despite the technical limitations of the console.

Obviously, the technical problems involved are not the issue. Although porting a game to another platform requires resources, it should be a normal process for a company like Rockstar with its capabilities and experience. As PCG’s Nick Evanson noted, there is no technical reason why the PC version of GTA 6 couldn’t be released at the same time as the console version.

The main reason seems to be simple – to increase profit. Rockstar is betting on a second peak in sales, when games released on consoles appear on PC after a while. This gives the company an additional source of income, including those who buy the game twice. This makes strategic sense, but it also creates a divide between Rockstar and the PC audience, which could be harmful to the studio in the long run.

With PC gaming revenue up 8% in 2023 and the console market stalling at 0.5%, a long-term bet on consoles may be a mistake.

While Grand Theft Auto 6 is certainly a commercial hit, there is a risk that Rockstar will repeat the mistakes of Square Enix, whose delayed PC ports were not as successful as expected.

Unfortunately, this does not mean that Rockstar will rush to port GTA 6 to PC. Since the release is now scheduled for the end of 2025, this means that the company is trying to get the maximum out of the console’s audience. This means that the PC release of GTA 6 can happen no earlier than 6-12 months after the consoles. That is, in the middle or end of 2026 – if you rely on current forecasts.