‘GTA VI’s Delay Is a Good Thing if it Means it’ll Come to Handhelds

Rockstar Games laid some bad news on us just to make sure our weekend started off on the wrong foot. The makers of the Grand Theft Auto series told customers it was delaying Grand Theft Auto VI from spring 2026 all the way until Nov. 19 next year. It’s the kind of delay we should expect at this point for a game as massive as this one. More than that, consumers should be relieved. More time in the tumbler doesn’t just mean a more polished game, it could also help bring the title to more platforms—including handhelds like the Nintendo Switch 2.

Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of GTA, shared its quarterly earnings report late Thursday. In case you were curious, it’s still making a lot of money on Grand Theft Auto V’s multiplayer. The company’s revenue was up 31% year over year despite issues with Borderlands 4 at launch. But as far as GTA VI goes, CEO Strauss Zelnick told investors, “If a game requires more polish to be the best possible version of itself, then we will give that game more time.â€

Zelnick added that the company wants to “give consumers as much certainty as possible. And again, we feel quite good about this date.†The company also has to start marketing the game, which if you know the video game industry, is an incredible expense that is a large reason why AAA game budgets have ballooned to enormous proportions. Take-Two previously said it started development in 2020, and its overall budget may be around $1 billion when all is said and done. The game is going to need to make back its money, and then some, if it’s going to be a success.

To make it a success, GTA VI needs to be on every possible platform it can be. The Switch 2 is selling extremely well, enough that Nintendo now hopes to sell even more consoles next year. Around the time Rockstar released its first gameplay trailer for GTA VI, Zelnick said that he “actually would fully expect to support Switch [2].†He told The Game Business earlier this year he is a “big believer†in Nintendo’s sequel handheld. On Rockstar’s site for GTA VI, it still only mentions PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X. Rockstar normally takes its time bringing its games to PC a year or so after a console release. But the industry is changing, and players aren’t so beholden to individual consoles as they once were.

Xbox and Sony could have their own handhelds soon

The fact the game runs at all on Xbox Series S is a sign developers have managed to cut back on performance to get it running on more limited hardware. The Switch 2 is notably less powerful than either major console—owing to its older hardware equivalent to a PlayStation 4 Pro, but it’s also proved to be extremely capable with numerous game ports like Cyberpunk 2077. Rumors based on unnamed, unverified sources close to Rockstar have indicated Rockstar is working on a Switch 2 port of Red Dead Redemption 2.

Plus, recent leaks have indicated Sony could be working on its own handheld. Dubbed Project Canis, this device could be a dockable device similar to Switch 2, and able to play all PS4, PS5, and any potential PlayStation 6 games natively. Now, we have Xbox promoting devices like the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X handheld PC that’s able to play most of its recent games like The Outer Worlds 2 on medium settings. Xbox has every reason to try and promote this device alongside any future Xbox mobile hardware. With every major gaming hardware maker going in on handhelds, it only makes sense for Rockstar to push out a mobile version of its games in short order.

Grand Theft Auto VI’s delay matters more for the industry than it does for players, even the most ravenous fans. It could completely restack the deck for expected releases like Halo: Campaign Evolved and Marvel’s Wolverine. There’s also the sticking point of price. We’ve already touched on analysts’ expectations that the game could cost around $100 out of the gate. We may be better off waiting for the game to come in due course. Not only will it give Rockstar the time to polish up GTA VI, the delay may also save us from even more industry turmoil that will make an expensive hobby even more expensive.