GTA 6 Reportedly Planned for PC in Early 2027 After Console Launch

The report follows Microsoft's announcement last week that it had secured exclusive cloud-streaming rights to the game. The Verge reported at the time that because Rockstar has yet to officially announce a PC version, the deal will allow Xbox to market its Xbox Cloud Gaming service to PC players who would otherwise need an Xbox Series X / S or PS5 console.

GamesBeat said the Q1 2027 PC release window would come only a few months after the game's November 2026 console launch, representing a significantly quicker turnaround for PC development than the previous iteration of Grand Theft Auto. Grand Theft Auto V's April 2015 PC release came roughly one year and seven months after the September 2013 release of Grand Theft Auto V. The user base of Grand Theft Auto V skews largely toward console players, with PC players representing a small minority.

With GTA VI's production budget rumored to exceed $2 billion, Rockstar is highly incentivized to pull all the levers it can as fast as it can to monetize the game's upcoming sequel, GamesBeat reported. PC players represent a significant expansion of the GTA VI audience, according to the report. The potential benefits of launching GTA VI relatively quickly on PC go beyond the opportunity to grow the game's casual player base.

Rockstar has signaled its plans to implement user-generated content creation tools into GTA VI. The company's August 2023 acquisition of Cfx.re, the development team behind the prominent Grand Theft Auto V roleplaying server company FiveM, made it clear that Rockstar considers online roleplaying in GTA to be a factor in the game's future.