GTA 6 Began as Project Americas Spanning Two Continents
Grand Theft Auto 6 started life as Project Americas, a plan so large it stretched across North and South America.
Rockstar Games described the codename and early scope in a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg about the project's origins, delays, leaks and trailer releases, reported on 14 October 2026. The final design was scaled back to Miami and its surrounding areas. Eurogamer
The scope shrank. The research started early.
Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson organised a first research trip to Miami in 2015, taking a small group of staff with him. At that stage Project Americas was meant to be developed alongside Red Dead Redemption 2, the company's western epic. That plan slipped by several years as the western grew in size and took priority.
By 2019, Rockstar had the skeleton of GTA 6. The core hook was already in place: dual protagonists, Jason and Lucia.
The interview also addressed working culture. Rockstar head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe told Bloomberg the organisation changed its approach after Red Dead Redemption 2, saying: "We're not doing it again like this." She was referring to crunch, the industry term for sustained overtime and long hours used to hit a deadline.
The date moved twice.
The planned release for Autumn 2025 was moved to May 2026, as detailed in a round-up published on 28 August 2026. Eurogamer Publisher Take-Two Interactive then delayed Grand Theft Auto VI again to November 2026. That six-month postponement was announced on 6 November 2025, with Take-Two shares falling 6% on the following Friday. Reuters
Rockstar has also dealt with leaks. The company acknowledged a major early leak of Grand Theft Auto 6 footage, which forced it to confirm the material was genuine.
Other companies are watching the calendar. Twitch chief executive Dan Clancy said on 16 September 2026 that Grand Theft Auto VI will likely face little serious competition for player attention. He urged other game firms to avoid its attention vortex and not release too close to it. Bloomberg
For fans, this means a clearer picture of why the wait has been long. A continent-hopping concept became a Florida-focused crime story with two leads, built across more than a decade of research, restarts and rescheduling.
