As part of announcing the arrival of The Kortz Center Heist in Grand Theft Auto Online, developer Rockstar Games has also revealed that those who own digital copies of the PS4 or Xbox One versions of Grand Theft Auto 5 will be getting a free upgrade to the PS5 or Xbox Series X/S versions. The studio said that this was done so that console players could “experience the best version of GTA 5 and GTA Online ahead of the launch of The Kortz Center Heist.”
Those worried about their single-player and Online progression have nothing to fear, since the title offers easy migration for all of the data through Rockstar’s account system.
PC players don’t really get anything out of this, since they were already upgraded for free from Grand Theft Auto 5 Legacy to Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced last year. The upgrade brought along a host of platform-exclusive features, including ray traced ambient occlusion and global illumination.
In the meantime, Rockstar Games has been gearing up for the November 19th release of Grand Theft Auto 6 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. While the title has already faced a few delays, industry insider NateTheHate believes that it is on track for this release date, and plans won’t change “unless something unexpected and catastrophically goes wrong” with the title.
Stronger signs of Grand Theft Auto 6 hitting its planned release date will arrive once the marketing for the game goes into full swing. In an interview, CEO of parent company Take-Two Interactive, Strauss Zelnick, had indicated that we’ll start seeing marketing and pre-orders soon.
Back in May, Zelnick had also revealed that Rockstar Games is currently around 18 months behind on its development timeline for Grand Theft Auto 6, taking its previously-planned release windows into account. This figure falls in line with a May 2025 release window, which would eventually get delayed to May 2026, before settling on the current November launch.
Zelnick had also spoken about how that first delay was a painful decision for Take-Two Interactive, which was ultimately made so that the studio could achieve its “creative vision” for the game without facing any limitations.
“As we get closer to completion of a title that’s seeking perfection, the needs or lack thereof for continued polish become clear,” Zelnick said at the time. “In this case, there was an opportunity with a small amount of incremental time, we thought, to make sure Rockstar Games achieves its creative vision with no limitations. And I supported, of course, that approach.”
Grand Theft Auto 6 is also shaping up to be one of the most expensive games to have been developed, with analysts estimating that its budget might be in the “$1 billion to 1.5 billion range.” However, this estimate is quite lower than public records from the UK having indicated that more than $2 billion was spent by the studio on salaries alone.
As for the potential PC release of Grand Theft Auto 6, Zelnick has spoken about wanting to focus on console players first since the company wants to make sure that its “core consumer” is catered to before expanding the audience.
