Spoiler Warning: Beware of minor spoilers for Grand Theft Auto VI based on trailers and pre-release material.
I have a pretty vivid memory from one of the low points in my life that randomly worms its way into my conscious thoughts from time to time. When I was overwhelmed at my old job in the games industry, in the middle of a health scare, and with difficulties in my marriage to boot, I took a walk one winter’s evening. I walked through the dark, nearly-empty streets of a city that I didn’t grow up in and only moved to for work, just trying to clear my head and get a bit of perspective. But it was a couple of days before Christmas, and in house after house, and flat after flat, all I could see through the windows were the signs of the season.
Christmas lights, Christmas trees, people sharing mugs of hot chocolate and mulled wine, families spending an evening together watching a Christmas film, and several places I passed that seemed to be in the throes of a full-blown Christmas party. There’s a real sense of isolation and loneliness when you’re literally on the outside; all I could see on that long, cold walk were people having fun and participating in this big, collective expression of joy and merriment. And there I was, feeling sorry for myself because I wasn’t able to join in with any of it that year.
So how does that memory relate to the upcoming highly-anticipated video game Grand Theft Auto VI? I’m glad you asked!
As someone who plays games on PC these days – and as someone who can’t afford, and would refuse on principle even if I *could* afford, to buy a new console to play one single game – I’m not gonna be playing GTA 6 when it launches in just a few days’ time. And I made my peace with that ages ago; it’s been apparent for a long time that Rockstar and Take-Two’s weirdly antagonistic stance towards PC gaming wasn’t gonna change. But the game’s marketing campaign, and the hype it’s generating in some corners of social media, hasn’t eluded me… and I kind of feel like that outsider again; the lone figure on a winter’s night watching everyone else sharing in a big, collective party to which I’m not invited.
I’ve been a fan of Grand Theft Auto since the tail end of the ’90s. The first game – which, I should point out, was released on PC *before* later arriving on PlayStation – was the first game I can remember buying which came with a BBFC “18” rating! I enjoyed Grand Theft Auto and its London spin-off, and I later picked up GTA 3 and Vice City in a double-pack on the original Xbox, before rounding out that generation’s titles with San Andreas a year or so later. I played Grand Theft Auto IV when that came out – though, admittedly, I think I preferred Saints Row 2 around that time! And finally, I played and enjoyed GTA 5 when it came to PC a year or so after its 2013 release.
I hope my history with the series shows you that, despite some negative comments today, I have been a fan of Grand Theft Auto and still consider myself to be one.
If you use *any* social media at all, ads for Grand Theft Auto VI are inescapable. I don’t watch broadcast television these days, but I suspect there’ll be plenty there, too, as well as on radio, in the few remaining print newspapers and magazines, plastered on billboards, stuck to the sides of buses… you get the gist. GTA 6 is everywhere right now, and it feels like millions of people are eagerly anticipating what could quite literally be the single biggest entertainment product of the year, bigger than any film, TV series or video game.
And here I am… feeling pretty apathetic.
On the one hand, I’m always going to want to play good, fun, enjoyable games. And if Grand Theft Auto VI lives up to the hype – which, after thirteen years, it really needs to – then I’m sure I’d enjoy it if I got my hands on it. But on the other, I have so many other things to play, as well as other things to watch, read, and write about here on the website, that I don’t really have that same sense of “FOMO” that I think the game’s marketing material is desperately trying to drum up.
My attitude towards Rockstar and Take-Two for a long time has been simply this: everyone else in the AAA games industry manages to launch multiplatform games on PC on day one, so there’s no reason you can’t do that too – especially given that you have the money-printer named Grand Theft Auto V at your disposal. Taking a deliberately confrontational approach to PC gaming isn’t gonna force me (or almost anyone else, for that matter) to splurge on an inflated and overpriced home console just to pick up your game. Nor is it gonna convince a lot of people to “double-dip” and buy two copies of the game. It’s just gonna generate ill will and a “fuck it” attitude.
Because I’ve known for years that GTA 6 wouldn’t be available for me to play, I’ve already taken it out of consideration. It’s not on my radar, really, and while – as both a commentator on the industry and as someone who used to work in games marketing – I find the game a topic of interest and clearly something discussion-worthy… I don’t feel an ounce of hype. Maybe it’ll be a good game. I hope it is, because I never want to see any project I’m at least somewhat interested in flop and fail. But maybe it’ll turn out to be overhyped and mid. Maybe it won’t sell as many copies as quickly as its predecessor – with no online mode at launch, that’s a more likely possibility than you might expect.
I actually have a list of three reasons why Grand Theft Auto VI’s launch could be underwhelming, and you can find that piece by clicking or tapping here.
There are a lot of good third-person action/adventure games out there. Some are on my watchlist and some are even in my backlog of games that I picked up on sale, started but haven’t finished, or just haven’t got around to trying out yet. Even if Grand Theft Auto VI turns out to be – as everyone seems to be hoping and expecting – a “Game-of-the-Decade” contender… I’m not shy of things to play this month. Or next month. Or next year, come to that.
To get back to my analogy from the beginning of this piece: am I really the outsider, watching this huge celebration that I’m not part of? Or am I just… someone who has other interests? Perhaps a better comparison would be this: there’s a massive sporting event going on, with the local team that everyone around me supports making it to the grand final! Only… it’s a sport I have no interest in, so whether they win, lose, or draw… my life is gonna continue unaffected, save for the minor disruptions that such a big event could create.
That, I think, is a more accurate metaphor for how I’ve been feeling about Grand Theft Auto VI’s impending launch.
And it’s a surprise, really. I’ve been a fan of this series, and these kinds of games, for more than a quarter of a century, and if you’d told me back in the San Andreas days, or even just in 2013 when GTA 5 released, that I’d be feeling so unbothered and apathetic towards the next entry in the series… I don’t know if I’d have believed it.
The trailers, teasers, and the “extended look” have all seemed… fine. I’m not bothered if a game is locked at a certain frame-rate. While I wouldn’t have said Grand Theft Auto VI looks generationally stunning in terms of its graphics and art style, the same is true of many recent titles, to be honest. And while another tropical beachside city might seem a bit repetitive after spending so long in Los Santos, the game’s Florida stand-in looks like a fun world to get lost in. If I bought and played GTA 6, I don’t doubt that I’d enjoy myself. I guess I just… don’t feel like I *need* to play the game, you know?
That could be a sign of age. I’m the wrong side of forty, and because I suffer from arthritis, I can’t enjoy long gaming sessions in the way that I once did. There are also other things going on in my life that I have to keep up with, further eroding potential gaming time. But… there have been other recent titles that got me hyped up and excited. Earlier this year, I jumped into Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown almost as soon as it was released, and I plan to do the same next year for Kena: Scars of Kosmora. So I don’t think it’s a case of age-induced apathy to *every* game or entertainment experience!
The simple truth is that Rockstar and Take-Two talked themselves out of what could’ve been a guaranteed week-one sale by making the deliberate choice to cut off PC players. And while I will tentatively put Grand Theft Auto VI on my list for 2027 or 2028, I don’t think it’s in quite the same camp any more. It may even have slid into “wait till it goes on sale” territory, especially given its hefty asking price (and paywalled in-game content from day one).
And this, I feel, highlights something I’ve talked about before.
When you deliberately shrink the audience for your product, you give yourself a mountain to climb to overcome the indifference and apathy that such a situation creates. When a TV programme is broadcast exclusively in the United States, for example, there’s less conversation online, less buzz, less hype, and a smaller bubble surrounding it. The result is that there’s less overall engagement – because folks who literally can’t watch the show don’t join in the conversation – and that has a knock-on effect that can harm the show’s chances in the United States, too.
The same is happening to Rockstar and Take-Two, I think. By cutting off PC players – a huge slice of the gaming market, and one of the few that has been growing in recent years – there are fewer players who can be excited and hyped for Grand Theft Auto VI. And with the inflated price of home consoles making buying new hardware a complete non-starter for a lot of us… the result isn’t that we feel “FOMO” and end up forcing ourselves to rush out and buy a new console. The result is indifference to the game itself.
And that could hurt GTA 6 when it launches on PC in a few months’ time, sure. But the smaller overall conversation bubble could also hurt it *now*.
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Grand Theft Auto VI will get a PC release in mid-2027. That doesn’t seem impossible to me, though it would be a bit faster than GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption II managed. But for the sake of argument, we’ll work on that basis for a moment. But here’s the thing: 2027 is already stacked with big, interesting, and exciting games to play. By the time GTA 6 launches on PC, the excitement for it will be well and truly over, even if it’s the 10/10 masterpiece that a lot of folks are building it up to be. And the hype train will have moved on.
In 2027, I’m making space in my calendar (and saving up my pennies) for titles like Crazy Taxi: World Tour, the aforementioned Kena: Scars of Kosmora, Exodus, The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, Stranger Than Heaven, Alien Isolation 2, Clockwork Revolution, the full launch of 1666: Amsterdam, Squadron 42, Usual June, No Law… the list goes on, and I’m sure you have games on your list that you’re looking forward to next year, too.
The point is this: when the hype train for Grand Theft Auto VI reaches the end of the line – which it will, regardless of how great the game ultimately turns out to be – attention will shift and people will move on. Rather than being a “must-buy on day one” kind of thing… GTA 6 will just become part of the furniture; a piece of the gaming landscape, sure, but not something to gravitate towards.
And I can’t help but feel that choosing not to launch the game on PC will come to be seen as a mistake.
But hey, maybe all of this is sour grapes because I won’t be able to play the game for a while. That’s certainly what the folks who leap to the defence of their favourite billion-dollar corporations are bound to say, eh?
In any case, I wanted to get my thoughts in order about Grand Theft Auto VI. I tend to scroll past or skip the ads for the game when I encounter them, and as much fun as I hope the game will turn out to be… I really don’t feel like I’m missing anything by not playing it this holiday season. I’m not short of games to play, and there are still several from 2026 that I’d like to complete and review before the end of the year.
Thanks for reading, and I hope this has been an interesting take on the GTA 6 situation. I didn’t want to come across as overly negative, nor shitting on the genuine excitement a lot of people have. It’s been a long time coming, and I really hope that Grand Theft Auto VI will live up to even the loftiest pie-in-the-sky fantasy expectations that some folks are setting for it. I mean, who wouldn’t want to play a once-in-a-generation masterpiece? But there are reasons to be sceptical. Hype can get out of control, as I’ve warned before… and because the game’s not available to me anyway, I just find myself tuning out of a lot of these discussions.
If you’re picking up Grand Theft Auto VI in a few days’ time… well, firstly, don’t pre-order it; there’s really no need! But secondly, and more importantly, I hope it exceeds your expectations and is the fun and exciting open-world crime adventure that I think everyone is rooting for. Hopefully, when the greedy pricks at Rockstar and Take-Two belatedly launch the game on PC, I’ll be able to join you in Vice City and find out for myself.
Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled to be released later this month for Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 5. A PC release has not been confirmed. The Grand Theft Auto series – including GTA 6 and other titles discussed above – is the copyright of Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
