GTA 6: is it back to Vice City? The rumor machine got going: all we know so far about the release date, map, characters and news of the new Grand Theft Auto.
When will GTA 6 come out? At 2019 started, the curiosity about the release of the next Grand Theft Auto can not but return to vogue. On the other hand 5 years have passed since the release of GTA V, the last chapter of the Rockstar saga that with over 80 million copies sold worldwide is considered one of the greatest hits of recent years.
Although today the development company continues to keep confidentiality on GTA 6, focusing instead on Red Dead Redemption 2 released in October 2018 and on the GTA Online updates, there seems to be no doubt that the action-adventure franchise will continue with a 6th chapter full of important news regarding maps, characters and gameplay.
According to a report by The Know rebounded on foreign specialized publications, Grand Theft Auto 6 will be released in 2022, will be set in two locations, Vice City and South America, and may have for the first time a female protagonist. The site, which in the past has already correctly revealed the details of Dark Souls 3 before the official release, mentions an “internal source”, which states that internally Rockstar refers to GTA 6 as Project Americas.
According to others, however, GTA 6 will be released in 2020 and simultaneously with the PlayStation 5. The ad hoc launch of the Rockstar-TakeTwo game for Sony’s next-gen platform would allow a perfect support to VR, a feature that is expected on GTA VI, whose setup still takes some time.
Although we have to wait, we have collected all the most interesting rumors and previews on what will be the gameplay, the settings, the maps and the protagonists of GTA VI. Here is what we know so far.
GTA 6: release date
To date we do not know a precise and official release date to mark on the calendar, despite rumors and more or less reliable rumors have spread the news that the company is working to develop GTA 6 for some time. In the most optimistic hypothesis, the next episode could come out in 2020 and act as a generational bridge between the current consoles and those of the next generation PS5 and Xbox Two. Four years after PS4 Pro and 3 after Xbox One X the world will be ready for new gaming platforms and also to accommodate the extraordinary news of GTA VI regarding gameplay, graphics, missions, interactivity and characters.
Going back in time, we see how Rockstar has always spent several years between one chapter and another of GTA. Between the first and second 7 years have passed, and for the release of GTA 5 we had to wait for 2013, the year in which the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were launched. It does not seem that the software house has followed stringent timelines, but rather has released the new games only when ready for launch.
However, the development of GTA VI is a special case. GTA 5 is the most successful title ever in the series, as well as one of the best-selling video games of all time with 85 million copies worldwide. Thanks to GTA Online multiplayer mode, it has become even more popular, earning the publisher millions of dollars a year.
This is also the main reason why the GTA VI studio Rockstar North has temporarily put aside new projects to focus on producing new content in the online mode. With this in mind, there is no hurry to release Grand Theft Auto 6: business is going well, and if RDR 2 will have a similar success to GTA V and Online, then it will be counterproductive to cannibalize the market with another big (and highly anticipated) open-world.
In any case, the wait for GTA 6 could be much longer than a year: according to the most recent rumors it is more likely that the game will be released around 2022.
GTA 6: setting, maps and cities
According to advances from sources close to Rockstar Games, the developers are thinking of completely revolutionizing the scenarios that made the story of GTA, setting the game in Tokyo.
Rumors dating back a few months ago, in fact, had reported some developers traveling in the Japanese city to collect information on the spot for “a new game”. We do not know if it was GTA 6, but it would be great news for the players. Japan, however, would be a business since it would mean reshaping the whole system of cities, so different from the American ones, cars and clothing.
It is easier than even Grand Theft Auto 6, as well as previous titles, end up being set in the United States. This hypothesis was also confirmed by the words of Vice President Dan Houser, who told the Guardian: “My personal impression is that GTA is America”.
According to some rumors, the story of the new chapter will be developed in Vice City, Miami, with some missions in South America and the Caribbean. Is there any reason to believe this rumor? Is Vice City really a good setting for the new GTA? The studio is not famous for its extraordinary creativity when it comes to settings: Rockstar has reused both Liberty City and Los Santos in GTA 4 and 5, so it would not be absurd to think that it could decide to re-use a location already visited.
Rockstar boss Leslie Benzies spoke about the idea of connecting more cities present in the previous GTAs in a single chapter. This means that GTA 6 could be even bigger and include really old locations already seen, with trips between San Andreas and Vice City on huge maps.
Extending the missions to two new and complete cities would be an interesting novelty and given that we talk about Tokyo it would be great to imagine two Japanese cities, maybe connected by high-speed trains, or a gameplay that obliges the protagonists to often travel for missions between the United States and Rising Sun. In addition, players would like to be able to change the appearance of the characters before starting the mission, in order to make the protagonists more similar to themselves or according to personal taste.
Moreover, also considering how much we will have to wait to play the new GTA 6, it is legitimate to want a compatibility for augmented reality. Imagine what it would be like to play Grand Theft Auto with a VR visor. In addition to being plausible, this update could prove to be inevitable. Think of VR optimization for Batman or Gran Turismo.
GTA 6: characters and cars
GTA V is one of the best video games available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but the entire saga of Grand Theft Auto is a must for lovers of the genre.
In addition to the graphics, which are appreciated along the way, the missions and the possibilities, the most interesting anticipations on GTA 6 concern the protagonists and the cars.
For some time it has been rumored that for the first time a female protagonist will arrive in the GTA universe, and Rockstar Games has also expressed itself in this regard. Dan Houser, during an interview released several months ago, did not discard the hypothesis of introducing a female character into the plot, despite the male protagonists will continue to be the focus.
For this reason we expect that if there will be a woman among the main characters, will have a minor role or will be playable only for a part of the story or for some missions in which the choice of different protagonists is expected.
The entry of a female character would avoid other charges such as those in 2014, after the release of the fifth chapter, moved by feminist associations that heavily accused the developers of GTA for the treatment of women in the game, accusations that led to the censorship of GTA V for the Australian market, triggering the protests of gamers.
Will always be three main characters, as had happened in GTA 5 with Franklin Clinton, Michael De Santa and Trevor Philips? At the moment, sewed mouths. But we are pretty sure that the stories of the protagonists of GTA 5 are concluded, considering that they have never entered the DTA of GTA 5, but expect that in GTA 6 make their appearance – even a fleeting appearance – some faces, names and already known places, if only to wink at the player.
As for cars, which ones will we see in GTA 6? GTA Online currently supports pilots, tuners, rallies, sedans, off-road vehicles, bicycles, emergency vehicles, a jetpack and even a car inspired by the Batmobile. In the next important title we could therefore see this and much more.
GTA 6: gameplay
At the moment there are no anticipations and noises on the gameplay of GTA 6, so we are not aware of the news that will be introduced in the new video game for PlayStation and Xbox. The Grand Theft Auto 5 system should however be fully confirmed, so even in GTA 6 you can perform many real-life activities, such as playing on the stock market.
The speculations are however many, like the one that sees a pirated copy of old games for PlayStation 2 readjusted according to the rumors of the new GTA 6, starting from the cover where there is a female character in the foreground.