Fans Change Their Tune About GTA 6 After Cyberpunk 2077 Launch
After eight years in development and almost a full year of last-minute delays, Cyberpunk 2077 finally launched, and the response has varied. The game itself has received praise for delivering on its ambitious, beautiful open-world, but bugs and broken features marred its launch to the point that Grand Theft Auto fans have expressed some unexpected patience for the long-overdue sequel.
A thread on Reddit posted by user Exoboots began with, "I dont care if GTA 6 is coming out in 2024, just dont be rushed and give us an amazing experience," and saw enthusiastic agreement. Another Redditor called Rockstar the "masters of not rushing," and mentioned that Red Dead Redemption 2's long development cycle equaled an unparalleled experience. Others commented on the importance of perfecting a product and felt that Cyberpunk 2077's failure to do so would be an important reminder for the industry.
The botched launch of CD Projekt Red's first major title since The Witcher 3 has seen broken features, distracting glitches, and poor optimization on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. While that hasn't stopped the game from receiving positive reviews and setting records on Steam, the negative press has impacted CD Projekt Red's stock and eroded some of the goodwill the company has established in the video game industry.
Fans aren't the only ones preaching patience for the next installment of the Grand Theft Auto series. Before Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser left the company, he told GQ in an interview that the political polarization of conservative and liberal communities in the United States had made the game challenging to produce. Houser cautioned that releasing Grand Theft Auto 6 too soon would result in the game becoming "out of date within two minutes."
Some of the main cast members from GTA 5 have also urged fans to wait for a sequel that lives up to its predecessor. Steven Ogg, who played Trevor in GTA 5, allegedly asked fans to "do the math" after speculation about a sequel reached a fever pitch, supposedly stating that Rockstar "games take 7-8 years to make." Shawn Fonteno, the voice actor for Franklin in GTA 5, offered similar advice, telling fans not to "knock Rockstar down," because it's a "process" to put the games out.
Rumors have surfaced about the possibility of GTA 6's release window since before Red Dead Redemption 2 went gold, although earlier in 2020 fans finally got a confirmation that the sequel was underway. While there is no official launch date, Rockstar's previous announcement pattern implies the game probably won't be available anytime before 2022.