Grand Theft Auto 6: Why all the fuss about a video game that hasn’t even been released yet?

It’s the latest entry in a gleefully violent and over-the-top video game series that encourages players to steal cars, shoot cops and make a fortune from organised crime. Beginning in the mid-1990s, the previous five games in the sequence have clocked up sales of €8 billion – meaning it is worth more than The Beatles back catalogue. It’s by far the biggest franchise in video games.

It is. Grand Theft Auto VI hasn’t even come out yet but already there are reports that it has been banned in Russia, China, Kuwait, Lebanon and Bahrain. Of course, enraging the authorities is part of a rich tradition for the series. When the original Grand Theft Auto was released in 1997, publicist Max Clifford rang up the tabloids and told them that he was promoting a new game where players shot policemen. An outcry ensued – there were fears that hordes of schoolboys would be roaming the streets engaging in impromptu carjackings. “We simply cannot allow children and young people to be given the idea that car crime or joyriding is in any way acceptable,” Lord Campbell of Croy declared in the House of Lords. GTA has never looked back.

You’ll have to wait. Originally scheduled for late 2025, the game was pushed back until early 2026 – and now its developer Rockstar has confirmed it won’t be out until November 19th. And that’s assuming there are no other hiccups – something for which the gaming industry is notorious.

Don’t be too pleased with yourself. While it is expected that the game will eventually arrive on PC, for now Rockstar has only confirmed that it is coming out on PlayStation and Xbox. So as things stand, it’s a console-only release. You can imagine how well the gaming community is taking the news.

For many fans, storyline has always been incidental to GTA. A huge chunk of the target audience enjoy just ripping loose in the game’s cartoonish re-creation of big American cities – engaging in gleeful carjackings and leading the police on a merry dance. But if you are here for the story, then GTA VI will feature a female protagonist – a rarity in the franchise – in the form of Lucia. Just out of prison on probation, she will be embarking on a crime spree, Bonnie and Clyde style, with her lover Jason – who players can also control. It’s a love story – with bonus shoot-outs.

GTA originated as a project of Scottish developer DMA Design (later Rockstar North) but we’re a long way from Dundee, with the game unfolding in a fictional version of Florida called Leonida – and centred on a parody of Miami called Vice City.

Rockstar’s history of controversy isn’t limited to the events happening on the screen. In the real world, the company and its parent, Take-Two Interactive, have been accused of sacking staff at its Edinburgh and London offices to prevent them joining a trade union. That followed the leak in 2022 of videos and source code from an early version of the game. Amid such anticipation, expect security to be tight ahead of the November release. The last thing Rockstar wants is anyone stealing Grand Theft Auto.