Here's why Grand Theft Auto 6 is likely to get delayed and won't release globally

Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive are likely to delay the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV to much later in the year of its expected release, according to analysts at Bank of America.

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The Bank of America dropped its ratings of Grand Theft Auto IV to Neutral from Buy, sparking a market downturn for Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of the highly anticipated game, as it fell 1.5% on Thursday. Notably, current earnings estimates placed the release of GTA 6 in March 2025, per analysts Omar Dessouky and Arthur Chu, but following the release of the insanely popular trailer, Bank of America now believes it "is more likely" the release won't take place until "the end of 2025".

But why is it likely GTA 6 will get delayed? The analysts believe that while the trailer was extremely popular, it didn't contain enough elements that "convinced us the game was well into alpha testing." Another concern was the lack of a PC version launch date, as there was no indication that the PC version would be launching in 2025 alongside the console version.

"The GTA 6 debut trailer, while exciting, did not contain elements that convince us that the game is well into alpha testing," analysts Omar Dessouky and Arthur Chu said. "Moreover, it did not mention a PC version launching in 2025."

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At the moment, it remains officially unclear how far along Rockstar is on the development of GTA 6, and in the past, the developer has delayed the launch of games, as Red Dead Redemption 2 was originally meant to launch in fall 2017, but later came out in October 2018.

• Read more: Grand Theft Auto 6 seems it has an in-game social media and livestreaming platform

For the time being, all we can do is just watch and wait for Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive to give us something that indicates that the development time is on track and the launch of the most anticipated game of all time will go smoothly.