A new installment in the wildly popular Grand Theft Auto game series is “well underway,” maker Rockstar Games has announced, confirming on Friday that “active development” for the new entry is already taking place.
The as-yet-unnamed game will be the first in the series to hit consoles since Grand Theft Auto V was released in 2013. No date has been set, though previous reports hint at a potential 2024 or 2025 release, and the company has remained close-lipped regarding specifics of the sixth installment in the series.
Rockstar also announced GTA V and GTA Online would be released for the Playstation 5 and Xbox X|S platforms next month in the same press release, promising 4K resolution, 60 frames per second, immersive 3D audio, haptic feedback, and other upgrades to the title’s already realistic gameplay.
The series is often criticized for encouraging sociopathic in-game behavior, from beating up prostitutes to torturing people to the titular car theft. Its open-world gameplay allows players to test the limits of possibility (yes, you can shoot the pigeons) without having to hew to a particular storyline. While the game is rated for adults only, it is also a favorite among adolescent players.
GTA has been targeted by grandstanding members of US Congress for supposedly encouraging real-life ultra violence by setting its criminal bacchanalia in thinly-disguised real world locations like Liberty City and Los Santos (inspired by New York and Los Angeles respectively). However, after years of soaring crime rates, the cities featured in GTA titles appear to have much bigger problems than their parody portrayal in a few video games.