Rockstar Games' first information about GTA 6 release announcement broke a major gaming record online.
After more than a decade since the release of Grand Theft Auto V, gamers have been foaming at the mouth for any information on the upcoming sequel.
Since hitting PlayStation and Xbox consoles back in 2013, GTA 5 has gone on to become the second best-selling video game of all time (185 million total units), trailing only behind the uber-popular Minecraft.
Given the last game's status amongst gaming's greats, surely GTA 6 will follow in its footsteps and smash even more records upon its release.
GTA 6 Record-Breaking Release Announcement
Grand Theft Auto 6's release announcement from Rockstar Games has broken the record for the most-liked gaming-related tweet/X post of all time.
Rockstar took to X (formerly Twitter) to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the developer, teasing a long thread that" in early December" the GTA developer will "release the first trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto" (assumedly called GTA 6):
"We are very excited to let you know that in early December, we will release the first trailer for the next 'Grand Theft Auto.' We look forward to many more years of sharing these experiences with all of you."
In just over five hours, the post - alluding to when fans can expect the first GTA 6 tease - totaled over one million likes, breaking the record for the most likes for an X post (and doing it in record time).
The tweet broke the record set by a previous post from Rockstar Games written in reaction to the much-reported-upon GTA 6 gameplay leaks. The September 2022 post hit a similar mark, getting up to over 1 million likes, but that one did it in over 20 hours.
With this latest announcement from Rockstar, it now means the top three most-liked gaming tweets of all time are all GTA 6 related. The top two spots are occupied by the posts above, but third place was the first confirmation the game was in "active development" back in February 2022 (563 thousand likes):
"Many of you have been asking about a new entry in the 'Grand Theft Auto' series. With every new project, our goal is always to significantly move beyond what we've previously delivered. We're pleased to confirm that active development for the next entry in the series is underway."
How Big Will GTA 6 Actually Be?
Rockstar's record-braking performance online about things as simple as a GTA 6 announcement is proof of just how big this game is going to be.
The last decade of waiting has been painful for fans, but it has also allowed the studio to build its hit sandbox series into the kind of moneymaker never seen before in gaming.
When GTA 5 was released in 2013, it was the fastest-selling entertainment product (movies, TV, games, and books) of all time, making over $800 million in its first day on the market (via Forbes).
However, since then the game has continued to have legs. GTA 5 has gone on to be re-released on both the PlayStation 4/Xbox One and PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X, allowing more generations of gamers to get brought into the GTA world over the last ten years.
Even though GTA 5 came out at the end of the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 generation when both those consoles had reached market saturation, GTA 6 is looking primed to smash the launch numbers set by its decade-old predecessor.
Despite not having announced GTA 6's official release date, Rockstar is expecting to "deliver over $8 billion in Net Bookings and over $1 billion in Adjusted Unrestricted Operating Cash Flow" in its next fiscal year (per Kotaku), which would like to be thanks to the release of the next Grand Theft Auto game:
"We believe that we will enter our next phase of growth in Fiscal 2025, as we plan to deliver several groundbreaking titles that we anticipate will set new standards of quality and success and enable us to deliver over $8 billion in Net Bookings and over $1 billion in Adjusted Unrestricted Operating Cash Flow. We expect to sustain this momentum with additional growth in operating performance in Fiscal 2026."
There are more gamers than ever, and anticipation is higher than it has ever been, so surely, GTA 6 is set to be a record-breaking tour de force even long before it hits store shelves.
Grand Theft Auto 6 currently has no announced release date, but is expected to come to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S some time in late 2024.
