The jokes about Grand Theft Auto V have been commonplace in the gaming community for a while now. That’s because its developer, Rockstar Games, has continued to profit off the game almost a decade after its initial release. It’s even managed to last three console generations in the Sony PlayStation 3, 4, and 5. Now, we’ve finally seen some leaked footage of the upcoming sequel, GTA 6. Here’s the lowdown on the whole situation.
GTA V has established itself as one of the top-selling games of all time. Period. It’s sold a grand total of around 165 million copies, a single game that has eclipsed even the sales numbers of the entire Assassin’s Creed franchise. Around five million of these sales came when GTA V was sold for next-generation consoles such as the Sony PS5 and the Microsoft Xbox Series X/S. That is truly an admirable feat that no one other than Rockstar Games can truly boast about.
Despite its age, the developer has kept the game feeling fresh with updated content and support. The online community still feels very much alive, with videos of gameplay still emerging to this very day. Whether these clips are from modded versions of the game or just pure playtime, marketing coverage is the same either way. There’s something magical about how interactive the game world feels, and any tech-oriented person would know the herculean effort it would take to code such a mammoth.
However, it is undeniable that GTA V is getting a bit long in the tooth despite third-party mods that make it look like a futuristic work of art. It may or may not be a coincidence, but leaks of GTA 6 have emerged exactly 9 years after the fifth iteration made its debut. It first went live on GTAForums but was immediately taken down with a strike. That didn’t stop the clips from setting fire to social media though, and some have even managed to confirm authenticity.
The clips feature two playable characters: a female with her hair tied up in a pink long-sleeved crop top with jeans, and a man wearing a sleeveless top with some board shorts and a cap. However, a few other snippets show the same characters in varied outfits, showing off the versatility that’s always been present in Grand Theft Auto games. As this very early leaked footage, you can still see the lines of code that trigger as multiple actions are conducted. This probably shows the parameters for causes and effects to happen within the game universe, and also makes it easier for the devs to debug and fix glitches in the final product. As end users, we aren’t supposed to see any of these.
We also gain the chance to observe some interesting vehicles, such as this fan-powered cart just parked in the airport. The current GTA V we have now has its fair share of even more peculiar modes of transportation, so this is no longer a surprise to most of us. Overall, GTA 6 looks like it runs on the same engine as the previous game but with additional tweaks.
These differences are mostly in textures as well as other details that bring the game up to date. There is a high chance though that while these clips are real, they’re simply molds for what the devs envisioned GTA 6 to be like – done with the current graphics engine of GTA V. No one really knows when these videos were recorded, so they may be years old for all we know.
Nonetheless, this leak comes as a shock to the gaming industry and is also a monumental surprise for Rockstar Games. GTA 6 can’t come any sooner, so we’re looking forward to being able to play and experience the game in its entirety. We’re confident about it coming to platforms such as PC, Sony PS5, and Xbox – but we know for a fact that it will run better on some pieces of hardware than others. Hopefully, the devs take optimization in mind so that we have a more-or-less polished game at release. If that’s the case, then we wouldn’t mind waiting another year or two.
