GTA 6 delay will reportedly cost Rockstar $60M more in development costs

https://www.dexerto.com/gta/gta-6-delay-will-reportedly-cost-rockstar-60m-more-in-development-costs-3281310/

Connor Bennett Nov 10, 2025 · 2 mins read
GTA 6 delay will reportedly cost Rockstar $60M more in development costs
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Grand Theft Auto 6’s second delay is expected to cost Rockstar Games an extra $60 million in development now that it’s been pushed back to November 2026. 

When Rockstar Games announced the first delay to GTA 6’s release date, Grand Theft Auto’s publishers, Take-Two, were supremely confident that it wouldn’t slip again. 

However, after months of silence and no updates from Rockstar, the highly anticipated game was delayed again on November 6. Now, Rockstar are targeting November 19, 2026, as the game’s new release date. “We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve,” they said. 

According to insiders, Grand Theft Auto 6 is “content complete” and that Rockstar are using an extra six months to rid the game of any bugs. However, that will come at a big cost.

Insider suggests $60m extra cost to GTA 6 after delay

As per Tom Henderson, Rockstar’s delay will cost them an additional $60 million in development costs. 

“I got a number from a developer on this, and they think this is going to cost Take-Two $10 million a month extra now. So, we’re talking an extra $60 million,” he said on Insider Gaming’s November 8 podcast. “I imagine you’re close to $100 million,” Henderson added, factoring in salaries and more.

$60m won’t have a significant impact on the profit of the game, which is already projected to cost Rockstar and Take-Two around $2 billion to make anyway.

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The Insider Gaming reporter was one of the first to mention a possible second delay to GTA 6. Although he never reported it officially, Henderson noted that the May release date never made sense in the first place. 

Rockstar have been under fire for firing developers, claiming that they’d leaked “company secrets.” The developers, who were unionized, claimed Rockstar were “union-busting” and protested over it.