- GTA 6 is delayed to November 2026, with a significant economic impact for Rockstar and Take-Two.
- The internet is flooded with fake gameplay videos and trailers generated by IAwith millions of views.
- Rockstar faces real animation leaks and a serious labor and union crisis in the UK.
- The European community is still closely monitoring the game, caught between misinformation and the hope that there will be no further delays.
The road to launching GTA 6 It's becoming a rollercoaster of announcements, delays, leaks, and internal controversies. Rockstar's open-world game, now slated for the November 19th 2026 en PS5 y Xbox The Series X|S has been placed at the center of the debate not only for what it will offer when it arrives in stores, but for everything that is happening around it.
While the company tries to finalize the development, the community lives between the impatience for the new Grand Theft Auto and a growing sense of distrust: fake videos generated with Artificial Intelligence, occur GTA 6 leaks With internal fragments of animations, theories multiply on social networks and, in parallel, new ones emerge labor disputes and political pressures in the United Kingdom due to the layoffs at Rockstar North. All of this paints a picture that is both highly publicized and delicate.
Delay to November 2026: Million-dollar costs and image risk
The latest date change has pushed the release of GTA 6 to November of 2026This decision, officially presented as a way to give the team “the extra time needed” to ensure the quality and polish of the game, has a very significant economic cost for Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two.
Various specialized sources have attempted to quantify this movement. One developer quoted by the journalist Tom henderson He estimated that the delay would entail a cost overrun of about $10 million per month development and other direct costs would raise the additional bill, just for this second postponement, to about $60 million. Other broader projections point to even higher figures.
The finance professor Rob WilsonIn statements reported by international media, he estimated that the total impact of the date change could reach 500 million, when adding aspects such as quality control to production costs, readjustment of marketing campaignsSupplier rescheduling and logistical changes in distribution. These estimates position the delay as a significant blow to the group.
Combining both perspectives leads to the question of monthly losses and cost overruns of between 60 and 85 million euros during the six months between the initial date and the new one, which would leave a total approximate range of between 360 and 510 millionAdded to that are the stock market fluctuations: after the delay was announced, shares of Take-Two They fell by around 7%, with a net loss close to $134 millionalthough part of that blow has been corrected with There.
Despite everything, some analysts believe the market could to regain confidence as November 2026 approachesespecially if Rockstar avoids further delays and proves that the time boost translates into a solid launch from day one.
Patience at its limit: the European community is confident there will be no more delays
After more than a decade since GTA V And with the development of GTA 6 dragging on for years, the patience of the players, also in Spain and the rest of EuropeThe situation is clearly strained. Even so, a significant part of the community, faced with the silence and expectation, believes that this The second major postponement should be the last. and that Rockstar will adhere to the new date.
Among the arguments of those who maintain confidence, several points are repeated: on the one hand, the study has publicly stated that it will prioritize quality and work balance compared to the old peaks in overtime hours, which were heavily criticized in past productions. On the other hand, it is assumed that the game is already in a advanced stage of developmentwhere efforts are focused more on polishing and optimizing than on building large systems from scratch.
There is also the concern that another change to the calendar could seriously damage Rockstar's imageeroding player confidence and affecting the commercial expectations of a project destined to be, once again, one of the biggest entertainment releases in history. In European forums, networks, and communities of video games It is emphasized that the company is already making moves in the fans' patience limit.
From that perspective, many consider November 2026 to function as a kind of "window of compromise": a moment where the extended development time, the need to minimize technical risks, and the obligation to to finally meet a specific dateAt this point, they emphasize, publishing on time is almost as important as continuing to refine the product.
Wave of fake gameplay videos and AI-generated trailers
The delay and shortage of official material have fueled a parallel phenomenon: explosion of fake content about GTA 6 on social media and video platforms. X accounts (formerly Twitter), YouTube channels, and profiles on TikTok They have taken advantage of the game's popularity to spread clips generated with artificial intelligence which are presented as supposed leaks or final trailers.
One of the most striking cases in Europe has been that of the account Zap Actu GTA6who posted short videos with scenes that appeared to show the protagonists, Lucía and Jason, walking along boardwalks, getting out of vehicles, or moving around different areas of the city. At first glance, many users took them for authentic, to the point that One of the clips surpassed 8 million views in a single day before its elimination.
However, upon closer examination of the videos, certain things emerged typical tool failures Generative AIDistortions in cars as they moved, strange changes in elements of the scenery, and minor inconsistencies in the animations were reported. Moderators and specialized users began to warn about these issues, and the platform itself eventually labeled some of the content as fake, although not always as quickly as desired.
The person responsible for Zap Actu GTA6 himself ended up admitting that It had no real leaks and that all the material had been created using AI. He explained that his intention was to demonstrate how easy it is. deceiving the public in 2025 with fabricated “leaks”And he ended up apologizing to those who felt disappointed or confused. By then, however, the experiment had already reached millions of viewers.
Similar cases are repeated on YouTube, where channels specializing in "teasers" and unofficial previews have achieved hundreds of thousands of views with Alleged final trailers for GTA 6 created exclusively with AI. Sometimes these videos have even been featured by the search engine itself. Google as if they were legitimate Rockstar content, which amplifies the misinformation problem and makes it harder for players to distinguish what is real and what is not.
Creative disinformation: from the fake twerk button to AI as a megaphone
The use of GTA 6 as a hook to spread hoaxes is not limited to fake gameplay videos. Over the last few months, there has been a proliferation of other methods. fabricated claims about supposed game mechanicsdesigned to go viral and test the limits of the algorithms and AI tools of major search engines.
One of the most talked-about examples was a campaign orchestrated by the content creator Jeffrey Phillipswho claimed on Reddit and TikTok that GTA 6 would incorporate a “twerk button” so that the characters could perform that dance directly. The entirely fabricated story was accompanied by a specially created subreddit and messages written to sound plausible, which were then processed by automated summarization and search systems.
In a worrying turn of events, Google's AI tools have reached Repeat these posts verbatim. as if they reflected genuine discussions among players, citing them as “community speculation.” When other users asked the original author for proof, he responded with a joke about supposed direct calls from Rockstar that never existed, but the damage was already done: it had become clear how easy it is feed the AI with false information so that it can be disseminated as if it were reliable.
All of this occurs in parallel with a broader context in which the Artificial intelligence is used to generate deepfakes of actors, public figures, and copyrighted characters, both in advertisements and viral content. The situation has led platforms like YouTube to announce changes to their policies on monetized inauthentic content, although for now The presence of misleading videos remains very high..
In the specific case of GTA 6, Rockstar itself has barely shown any playable material, beyond the first official trailer and the 2022 leaks from a very early version. This lack of information, coupled with the enormous anticipation, creates the perfect breeding ground for any minimally convincing clip, authentic or not, to spread rapidly through networks and forums, including among European players.
Real leaks: advanced animations and traces of former employees
While fake content abounds, in recent weeks other types of content have also appeared leaks with much more weightapparently linked to authentic development materials. Several short videos, initially shared by a former Rockstar animator and soon removed, have shown animation techniques that would be used in GTA 6.
In one of those fragments, a male character is seen interacting with a bikeFirst, she holds it, then she mounts it, and finally she dismounts smoothly. Although the gesture seems simple, what stands out is the naturalness of the transition between states and the sense of weight and balance—key elements for making open-world animations believable.
Another clip shows Lucia, one of the protagonists of the game, descending from a large vehicleSimilar to a monster truck or the cargo bed of a pickup truck, the shot allows one to appreciate details in the stance as the feet rest on the ground, the vehicle's slight reaction, and the coordination of the body's movements, suggesting meticulous work in capturing and refining the scene.
Although these videos were quickly removed from their original channels, copies of the content circulated on various platforms, leading many users to suspect that Take-Two may have requested its withdrawal for violating confidentiality agreements. The speed with which they disappeared reinforced the feeling that it was genuine material, very different from AI-generated fabrications.
The origin of these leaks has been speculated to be that former Rockstar employeesThose particularly affected by the recent layoffs would have retained material from their time at the studio and could now be using it as a professional portfolio or, in some cases, as a reaction to their discontent. In any case, the existence of these videos demonstrates that, beyond the noise surrounding the fakes, the development of GTA 6 has reached a level of technical detail very advanced.
Job crisis and political pressure on Rockstar in the UK
All this context of delays, expectations, and leaks intersects with a internal crisis at Rockstar NorthThe Scotland-based studio that is heavily involved in the development of GTA 6 has seen layoffs in recent weeks affecting between 30 and 40 employees, at a particularly delicate moment due to the proximity of the launch and the existing work environment.
The company has justified these departures by claiming “serious misconduct” and referring to alleged leaks in a “public forum” which, in reality, would have been a private Discord server where part of the staff coordinated to form a union and discuss working conditions. For those affected and for various political representatives, the situation points to a possible union repression.
The matter has reached the Scottish Parliamentwhere figures like Ross Greer, of the Green Party, have demanded explanations from Take-Two and Rockstar, especially since the studio has been one of the main beneficiaries of the British program of Video Game Tax Relief (VGTR)These public subsidies are intended to support local employment and promote the development of projects in the country, so their use in a company that is carrying out layoffs is, at the very least, controversial.
At the municipal level, Councillor Dan Heap has promoted a motion in Edinburgh City Council so that the case is investigated, Rockstar is pressured to reconsider the layoffs, and financial and legal support is provided to those affected. The goal is for the institutions to demonstrate their concern about the social impact review the company's decisions and evaluate the continuation of certain incentives if anti-union practices are confirmed.
In parallel, the International Video Game Guild of the United Kingdom (IWGB) A lawsuit has been filed against Rockstar for alleged union-busting practices, demanding the reinstatement of the dismissed workers. Some internal employees have anonymously expressed feeling... insecure and fearful Following recent events, especially considering the history of long working days and pressures in previous developments.
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