GTA 5 Release Date

The GTA 5 Release Date is quickly becoming one of the hottest topics in the entire video game industry. On top of that, GTA 5 is quickly becoming the single most anticipated game overall and definitely the biggest and most anticipated that we know of that is slated for 2013. Right there we know that the odds of GTA 5 releasing in 2012 are slim and none on all accounts. While the game from Rockstar was originally thought, or perhaps just hoped by gamers, to be released in time for the 2012 holiday season, it seems more and more likely that Rockstar will release GTA 5 in May of 2013.

Recently analysts from around the internet have stated that the most recent guess at the GTA 5 Release Date would be March of 2013 might be in serious jeopardy. They state that there are two main factors at play, ranging from retailer lead time to a definitive release date from Rockstar themselves. Nobody has heard anything from the usual tight-lipped company and like another company known for delaying AAA games, Blizzard Entertainment, Rockstar has a history of releasing a game only when it’s done. Since estimates call for 12-14 million copies of the game to be sold, Rockstar is sure to not take any chances with the their prized possession especially considering the surprise flop of the highly regarded Max Payne 3 title that came out earlier this year. Take-Two’s chairman has even given little hints about the GTA 5 Release Date, stating that the development team is making substantial progress and they are in full dev mode at Rockstar. Considering the complexity of scope, high level of graphical detail and ridiculous amounts of story, acting and modeling that goes into a game of this magnitude, it’s hard to think that at this point anything earlier than April of 2013 is in play.

Curious to know what GTA 5 is going to be like? Check out GTA 5: 10 Things It Needs and our GTA 5 Rumor Roundup.

Let’s take a look at some titles in Rockstar’s past to maybe see any sort of pattern for a GTA 5 Release Date. Grand Theft Auto III was released in October of 2001 (by the way one of our all-time favorite games ever) and GTA Vice City was released in January of 2004. Shortly after that, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released on June 6th, 2005. Grand Theft Auto IV was released in April of 2008, which came after a 6-month delay (sound familiar?). Max Payne was maybe the first ever game reviewed here at Gaming Illustrated, released back in July 25th, 2001. Max Payne 2 was released on October 15th, 2003 with the recently released Max Payne 3 hitting the shelves on May 15th, 2012. To fill out the franchise hat trick, Red Dead Redemption was releaed on May 18th, 2010. Adding up the releases we see:

• January: 1
• April: 1
• May: 2
• June: 1
• July: 1
• October: 2
• Never Released a GTA/MP/RDR Game in: February, March, August, September, November, December

What can we glean from this list? Simple – It would break Rockstar’s tradition completely to release this game in 2012 unless there’s some ridiculous quick release in October, which frankly isn’t going to happen considering the mass marketing and retail preparation needed. That next takes us to January, which again seems unlikely and a month that most experts are already ruling out. So, we’re looking at skipping February and March because Rockstar has never released a Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne or Red Dead Redemption game (yes, we know, just one of those if you don’t count Red Dead Revolver) in those months … taking us to a GTA 5 Release Date of… April or May of 2013. It’s a distinct possibly that April might be much too soon given the development scope of GTA 5 but considering the screenshots and the trailer, it looks like Rockstar has an evolved game on their hands that they are fine tuning. While the safe money should be on May of 2013, we shouldn’t rule out June or July as well. Either way we’ll be standing by and waiting to hear the official GTA 5 Release Date so we can count down the days for what looks like another great game (for mature gamers) from Rockstar Games.