The hype surrounding the trailer for GTA 6 has been reaching fever pitch - only to be swiftly deflated by Rockstar, the company behind the iconic gaming series, launching the trailer early.
It seems this early release was due to the trailer being leaked on social media - we were expecting it later on today, December 5 - and while the trailer certainly looks good (you can view it below), there are some big disappointments as well.
As we had suspected from earlier leaks, GTA 6 will be set in Vice City (loosely based on Miami), and will have two protagonists, one of which is the first female playable character in a single-player GTA story.
The city looks well realised, and character animations seem much improved from GTA V (which, to be fair, came out 10 years ago). However, my initial excitement while watching the trailer turned to horror.
This can't be happening, man
First of all, there's the release date reveal - and it ain't pretty: all we got was 'coming 2025'.
That's ages away. Anyone hoping for a release next year is going to be pretty bummed out, then. The 2025 date is also rather vague - we could be looking at late 2025, which could mean we're still two years out from playing the game - and that's assuming Rockstar doesn't delay it, which has been the case with some previous Rockstar games.
Worst of all, however, is the fact that in a press release that was put out alongside the trailer, Rockstar confirmed that GTA 6 is launching on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (and Series S)... but not to PC.
This confirmed my worst fears. Both GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar's most recent game, did finally come to PC, but after noticeable delays, and it seems that's going to be the case here.
That means PC gamers could potentially have to wait until 2026 (or even later) to play the game.
Annoyingly, PC was where I was hoping to play the game. I've been a fan of the series since the first 2D top-down GTA - which launched first on PC.
I've played the rest of the series on various consoles, including PlayStations 1 to 4, and even the Gameboy Color.
However, I've yet to buy a PlayStation 5, as my current gaming PC is now my platform of choice - and it'll be highly likely that the PC version of GTA 6, if and when it does appear - will be the definitive version, with the best performance, graphics and additions such as support for ultra-wide monitors. Oh, and multiplayer is free on PC as well.
But now I'm in a bind. I really want to play GTA 6, but can I wait until 2026, assuming it comes to PC at all? On the one hand, I'm sure it'll look good running on whatever RTX 6090-powered gaming rig I'm running by then, but I'm also really impatient. It might finally be time to admit defeat, and buy a PS5 as well. Damn.
