Opinion: GTA 6 delay could leave room for GTA V PS5 Pro upgrade or re-release

Reports indicate that Grand Theft Auto VI could be delayed into 2026, and if that happens, Take-Two will have a sizable reduction in its revenue forecasts. But GTA V could help save the day (again).

3

How long can GTA V sustain the Grand Theft Auto franchise? If reports are accurate, the 11-year-old game could do some more heavy lifting. Sources have told Kotaku that GTA 6 might be pushed back as far as 2026 to give Rockstar Games more time to polish the game, which is believed to be one of the most important new releases for the modern games industry. The events of 2023 and 2024 (mass layoffs, budget cuts, lower-than-expected profit margins) have led to a mass culling of the industry and GTA 6 is seen as a savior of sorts that could uplift the market.

There's just one potential issue: Rockstar Games are perfectionists that require a lot of time to make their games. Red Dead Redemption 2 was delayed 3 times, and Rockstar has even reportedly rebooted GTA 6 in 2019. It's possible GTA 6 could miss its intended 2025 launch, a timeframe that could coincide with the rumored PlayStation 5 Pro console that's believed to be coming sometime in September - December 2024. If GTA 6 is delayed, and Sony does indeed release a PS5 Pro system, then Rockstar might have an opportunity to still boost its revenue while it works on GTA 6.

• Read more: Rockstar Launcher leaks tease GTA 6, GTA 5 Gen9, and RDR1 are coming to the PC
• Read more: GTA 6 to support user-generated content, Rockstar meeting with Roblox and Fortnite creators
• Read more: Breaking: GTA 6 delayed to May 2026, Rockstar Games confirms

The opportunity that presents itself isn't necessarily ideal, at least from the standpoint of a gamer who has played GTA V on 3 different console generations (PS3, PS4, and PS5, for instance). But Rockstar could work with its partners to ensure that a PS5 Pro patch/upgrade/enhancement is ready for Grand Theft Auto V once the console launches.

While it won't boost in-game performance too much, the PS5 Pro is expected to deliver significantly improved visuals over the PS5 thanks to its beefier 33TFLOP GPU (which provides up to +45% extra perf) and new PlayStation Spectral Resolution scaling technology. This is basically Sony's custom machine-learning powered, on-GPU answer to NVIDIA's DLSS upscaler.

The result could deliver vastly improved visuals in GTA V and bring the PS5 Pro the closest a console has ever been to PC-level graphics, at least upscaled-enhanced ones.

3

GTA franchise revenues hit an all-time quarterly peak with the trilogy remaster release.

This theoretical plan--releasing a GTA V PS5 Pro patch to help bide time for GTA VI--could be executed in a number of ways. Rockstar could re-release a new GTA V SKU for PS5 Pro, or maybe some sort of paid upgrade path (this would not be popular, though).

Or it could be released for free in an effort to engage the new PS5 Pro audience. The Pro's price will determine just how big this audience is. Some are saying the PS5 Pro will cost $600, which would price the system out of the mainstream and nestle it firmly in enthusiast territory.

This kind of re-release could be a supplementary way for Rockstar to gear up for the PS5 Pro, or at the very least have a way to engage players while flexing the new technology.

Of course, this plan isn't able to quantify the actual cost of a PS5 Pro re-release or upgrade. We're not sure how much this would cost to make, whether or not Rockstar even has the extra team members available for such an undertaking, and which external partners it would work with to bring the version to life (if any). And let's not forget about the weight of GTA Online, which requires new content updates to keep players engaged.

Another possibility would be to potentially include the GTA V PS5 Pro enhanced upgrade as part of GTA+ at some point, further adding value to the subscription service.

Rockstar Games has not confirmed a delay for GTA 6 and the game is still set to launch in 2025. Take-Two Interactive will give us clues on a potential GTA 6 release when it updates its game release pipeline and FY25 / FY26 revenue targets. These updates will come when Take-Two announces its full-year FY24 results this May.