Take a deep breath and remember: Delays are good.
OK, that statement isn’t always true, but it usually is. Delayed projects sometimes result in bad games (looking at you, Duke Nukem 3D), but much more often taking more time produces good stuff. Spending meticulous weeks to get something just right matters in art, as does finding the bravery to throw out ideas that seemed wise in concept but never panned out. Think about how many half-finished games you’ve ever bought and played and then wished the publisher had just delayed until it was right and ready. Got that thought in your head? OK, hold onto it.
GTA 6 is delayed, and that’s good, because it will probably be better for the delay.
Rockstar has a long history of delaying games to make sure they’re ready for market, a strikingly consistent bit of discipline that places them alongside Nintendo in an elite fraternity of studios that wait until the casserole is fully cooked before serving. And boy, is it always delicious.
I’ve been playing GTA games as long as they’ve been around, starting with four-player PC GTA LAN parties. I’ve played the most obscure (London 1969), the best (GTA V), and the true best (Chinatown Wars for DS). I’ve ransacked and crashed and shot my way through these goofy, wonderful worlds for decades. And thankfully, these games are practically always late… and not coincidentally, always great. Here’s every delay in GTA history (and some Red Dead too).
Grand Theft Auto III
Rockstar’s New York offices were located only a few blocks from the World Trade Center, and Take Two didn’t waste any time briefly delaying GTA III following the September 11 attacks. . Marketing VP Terry Donovan announced the delay only days after the tragedy:
“Our decision is based on two factors, firstly it has been a little difficult to get work done in downtown Manhattan in the last week since basic communications infrastructure has been intermittent at best, and secondly we felt that a full content review of all our titles and the marketing materials we use to represent them was absolutely necessary for us in light of the horrifying event we all witnessed in the United States last week.”
He continued: “As for Grand Theft Auto, since the game is so huge the review is no short process. So far we have come across certain small contextual references that we were no longer comfortable with, as well as a couple of very rare gameplay instances that no longer felt appropriate to us. We apologize to you and all the people waiting for this game to ship for the delays that have now ensued, but I’m sure you can understand our reasoning. Rest assured the game will be phenomenal…and you can expect it to hit shelves in late October.”
Even with only minimal content changes, the delay was a wise decision for Rockstar and players alike. Blasting cops and ambulances in Liberty City so soon after the violent deaths of thousands wouldn’t have been appealing to anybody.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The co-prize for shortest delay is shared between Vice City and San Andreas. Back in the olden days before downloadable game stores and day-one patches, manufacturers guessed ahead of time just how much of a physical product they’d need to produce for a given shelf date, and sometimes they guessed wrong. Rockstar delayed Vice City by seven days to give them time to manufacture more discs (and thus meet the tremendous day-one demand for a GTA III follow-up).
San Andreas for PS2 also hit streets a week later than planned, a strategic decision designed to give the dev team a few extra days to polish their two-year project.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Okay, so real talk: The GTA handheld games go hard… hard enough that it’s worth dusting off your ancient PlayStation Portable or DS to try them. GTA’s excellent forays onto portables usually arrive on time, but Vice City Stories for PSP was delayed for two weeks in North America, and longer in parts of Europe.
The best GTA of them all (fight me!) didn’t arrive precisely on time. The incredibly creative and intricate DS gamechit shelves two months later than expected. When it did finally arrive, it blew the socks off of critics, and it’s one of gaming’s great tragedies that nobody bought it… we might be playing Chinatown Wars 3 on our new Switch 2s right now if they had.
Grand Theft Auto IV
After GTA III changed the landscape of video games, anticipation for GTA IV was palpable. With clunky RenderWare left behind and a brand new console generation to work with, Rockstar Leeds was aiming for the stratosphere. Bringing their vision to reality ultimately demanded several months of delay.
As Rockstar’s Sam Hause explained, “The new consoles [PS3 and 360] are allowing us to create the Grand Theft Auto game we always dreamed about. Every aspect of the game and its design has been completely transformed. The game is huge and is pushing the hardware platforms to their absolute limits. The top engineers from Sony and Microsoft are working closely with the team in Edinburgh right now, helping us to fully leverage the power of both platforms. As always, our goal is to surpass even the wildest expectations of the game’s fans, and to create the ultimate high definition video game experience.”
Grand Theft Auto V
The biggest console game of all time was a long time coming. GTA V finally landed in September 2013, but was originally anticipated to arrive in the spring of that same year. But in late January 2013, Rockstar released the following message:
“We know this is about four months later than originally planned and we know that this short delay will come as a disappointment to many of you, but, trust us, it will be worth the extra time. GTAV is a massively ambitious and complex game and it simply needs a little more polish to be of the standard we and, more importantly, you require. ‘To all Grand Theft Auto fans, please accept our apologies for the delay, and our promise that the entire team here is working very hard to make the game all it can be. We are doing all we can to help ensure it will meet if not exceed your expectations come September – we thank you for your support and patience.’”
They weren’t wrong. GTA V went on to become the most successful console game of all time, and alongside RDR2, it’s a true jewel in Rockstar’s crown.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Speaking of RDR2… it’s not a part of the GTA series, but it is Rockstar’s best game and I love talking about it. In keeping with the tradition of Rockstar quality-based delays, we’re adding a bit of an appendix by mentioning Red Dead Redemption 2, which was delayed twice, first in spring 2017 for quality assurance purposes. The second delay came in February 2018, pushing RDR2 to late October. The statement from Rockstar explained that, again, this was a quality issue.
“We are excited to announce that Red Dead Redemption 2 will be released on October 26th 2018. We apologize to everyone disappointed by this delay. While we had hoped to have the game out sooner, we require a little extra time for polish.
“We sincerely thank you for your patience and hope that when you get to play the game, you will agree the wait will have been worth it. In the meantime, please check out these screenshots from the game. We look forward to sharing a lot more information with you in the coming weeks.”
That delay, like all the others here, worked out swimmingly, delivering a true work of art still unparalleled in adventure gaming.
So friends, don’t despair. GTA 6 will come, and when it comes, it will almost certainly be very, very good. See you in Vice City.
Jared Petty is a former IGN editor who likes writing about how wonderful and silly video games are. You can find him at Bluesky as pettycommajared.