While it's unfathomable for Rockstar to actually cancel the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 game altogether, the company has, for a long time, remained 'mum' about its future plans for the much-awaited GTA 6. The game developer has, however, confirmed a sequel to another of its highly popular games, "Red Dead Redemption 2", which is expected to be released sometime in Fall of this year.
Priorities
The company's announcement has led many to believe that it has been concentrating most of its efforts on developing and preparing for the grand launch of "Red Dead Redemption 2," and that any significant development related to GTA 6 is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
But even RDR 2's development appeared to have been completely under wraps, and Rockstar seems to be more and more inclined to withhold information about its plans not just its for upcoming GTA games, but all others that it may release in the future. RDR's latest installment is expected to be released sometime during the second quarter of 2018, and Rockstar isn't expected to make any formal announcements concerning its next GTA installment until then.
Grand Theft Auto Online
The unprecedented success of "GTA Online" may have also played a hand in the company's decision to indefinitely postpone the development of GTA 6 — mainly due to the fact that the game has been raking in more revenues than the company ever expected it to.
"GTA Online" is believed to have brought in over $500 million for in-game microtransactions alone, which leaves the company no financial motive to rush into another game venture involving the highly successful Grand Theft Auto franchise anytime soon.
Multimillion-dollar lawsuits
Another factor that likely hinders the supposedly seamless process of Grand Theft Auto 6’s development is the multimillion-dollar lawsuit that former Rockstar big boss Leslie Benzies filed against the company.
Benzies’ rift with Rockstar is believed to have a significant impact on many aspects of GTA 6’s development, including its gameplay — which analysts believe might cause the highly awaited game to be deviant compared to all other installments released before it.
Expected release date
While Rockstar has neither confirmed nor denied whether or not they in fact plan to develop Grand Theft Auto 6, analysts believe the game is likely to be released sometime in 2018 or later — but definitely no later than 2020.
