We’ve been talking about it for years and yet we’re still waiting to hear when GTA 6 will launch on PC. History says it will probably be around a year after the console launch and that Rockstar probably won’t even confirm a PC release date until next year either. How deep into the Leonida weeds can I get trying to divine an answer? At least deep enough to get WASTED by rogue wildlife, probably.
When might the GTA 6 PC release date be?
The PC release date for GTA 6 likely won’t be before November 2027. That’s my best guess based on the timeline of Rockstar’s past PC ports, because so far it hasn’t even given an estimate for a PC launch window.
For its last three major releases (including RDR2), the delay from console launch to PC has ranged from 7 months (GTA 4) to 19 months (GTA 5), though Rockstar’s original plan before delays was about 14 months between console and PC for GTA 5.
Adding insult to injury, it would be in keeping with its playbook for Rockstar to not announce a PC release date until well after the console version has been out. It confirmed a PC version of GTA 4 the summer of 2008, several months after the console launch. It did nearly the same with GTA 5, launching on consoles in September 2013, announcing a GTA 5 PC release date in summer 2014, and then delaying the PC version several times into 2015—yes, it launched on two console generations before coming to PC. With RDR2 it just straight up waited a year after the console launch to confirm what we all knew: RDR2 would come to PC, giving us just a month’s notice.
So not only will GTA 6 probably not launch on PC until the back half of 2027, Rockstar may not even deign to give us a date until sometime next year either.
Rockstar’s past PC port timelines
|
PlayStation 3 |
April 29, 2008 |
|
Xbox 360 |
April 29, 2008 |
|
PC |
December 2, 2008 |
|
Xbox 360 |
September 17, 2013 |
|
PlayStation 3 |
September 17, 2013 |
|
Xbox One (Enhanced Edition) |
November 18, 2014 |
|
PlayStation 4 (Enhanced Edition) |
November 18, 2014 |
|
PC (Enhanced Edition) |
April 14, 2015 |
|
Xbox Series X/S |
March 15, 2022 |
|
PlayStation 5 |
March 15, 2022 |
|
PC |
March 4, 2025 |
*Not to be confused with the version formerly known as GTA 5 Enhanced Edition which was the next gen console launch on November 18, 2014. My brain hurts.
|
Xbox One |
October 26, 2018 |
|
PlayStation 4 |
October 26, 2018 |
|
PC |
November 5, 2019 |
|
Consoles and PC |
November 11, 2021 |
|
Mobile |
December 14, 2023 |
Why is Rockstar still not prioritizing PC launches?
Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has been giving some seriously mixed signals to PC players over the past year. In November 2025 Zelnick said that the games industry is “moving towards PC and business is moving towards open rather than closed.”
Then in February 2026 he said “We have seen PC become a much more and more important part of what used to be a console business, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that trend continue.” That sure seemed like a promising attitude.
However, in May 2026 Zelnick said “Rockstar always starts on console because I think with regard to a release like that you’re judged by serving the core,” and referred to console players as its “core consumer.” In the same interview he guestimated that PC could account for 45-50% of the sales on a “major launch” for Take-Two. So we know, as presumably does Zelnick, that any claim that PC isn’t the “core” audience for GTA 6 is total baloney.
Why, then, does Rockstar continue to hold back its PC launches? Our own Ted Litchfield called it two years ago: There’s really only one reason for Rockstar to release Grand Theft Auto 6 later on PC. Zelnick isn’t going to come out and say “because you suckers will buy it twice” but I think we all pretty instinctively know that’s what the suits think of us.
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