"Grand Theft Auto VI" is set to become one of gaming's biggest launches ever, yet Rockstar Games has stayed almost completely silent about the multiplayer component fans have come to expect from the series.
A recent report is now suggesting that silence might stretch on for a lot longer than anyone initially assumed.
'GTA 6 Online' Rumors: Not Yet Coming Anytime Soon
Forbes' Paul Tassi laid out his reasoning in a Forbes piece examining why Rockstar has said nothing about "GTA 6 Online" so far.
He wrote, "The most likely situation here is that we are a year or two out, at least, from GTA 6 Online, rather than two weeks, and that will very clearly not come with the end-of-service for GTA Online."
That timeline would place a launch anywhere between 2027 and late 2028, a sharp contrast to how quickly the original online mode arrived.
Tassi's speculation is not pulled from thin air either. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reported something similar after interviewing Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, stating plainly, "Right now, Take-Two is only talking about GTA 6 in terms of the single-player portion. They have not talked at all about GTA Online, and they are not planning to talk anytime soon about what the new GTA Online will look like."
It is worth noting Tassi's piece is an opinion column built on educated speculation rather than a confirmed report, and he was upfront that "we don't even know if it will be two years later."
Is There Still a 'GTA 6 Online' Coming From Rockstar?
"GTA Online" has remained an enormous moneymaker for Rockstar, peaking during the 2020 pandemic with $744 million in microtransaction spending in a single year, and it still generates roughly $400 million annually more than a decade after launch, said GameRant.
That ongoing revenue stream gives Rockstar little financial pressure to rush a successor out the door, especially while the original continues performing so well on its own.
There has been no announcement that "GTA Online" will shut down once "Grand Theft Auto VI" releases, and it is expected to keep running alongside the new game regardless of when its own online mode eventually arrives.
Rockstar has already confirmed "GTA 6" itself will launch entirely as a single-player experience, meaning any multiplayer component is guaranteed to come later, whether through a post-launch update or as a separate release entirely.
When to Expect 'GTA 6 Online's' Release
For comparison, the original "GTA Online" launched just two weeks after "Grand Theft Auto V" back in 2013. Given how significantly larger and more ambitious "Grand Theft Auto VI" is shaping up to be, most reporting agrees that timeline simply is not realistic this time around, even if Rockstar wanted to replicate it.
"Grand Theft Auto VI" remains scheduled to launch November 19, and Rockstar has continued reiterating confidence in that date even after two previous delays. That said, there remains no word on "GTA VI Online," as of press time.
With marketing so far focused entirely on the single-player story, and neither Rockstar nor Take-Two willing to discuss multiplayer plans, fans hoping for a quick online companion mode may need to brace for a considerably longer wait than with "Grand Theft Auto V."
