GTA 6 Rumour Roundup: Release Date, Leaks, Female Protagonist, Map Updates, More

GTA did feature playable female protagonists ages ago, but you may not remember it.

GTA 6, or Grand Theft Auto 6, is arguably one of the most awaited open-world crime-adventure game for now, thanks to developer Rockstar Games incredible success with GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2. While there have been bits and pieces of rumours and leaks surfacing around GTA 6 for quite some time now, a recent report by known video game journalist Jason Schreier, published by Bloomberg, has leaked a sizeable amount of information on GTA 6. From a female protagonist to map expansions, here’ everything we know about GTA 6 so far.

GTA 6: Release date

Let’s address the grand question first. While Rockstar Games said that work on GTA 6 is “well underway,” the Schreier report noted that GTA 6’s release is still at least two years away. No release date, or even year, has been announced by Rockstar as of yet. 

GTA 6: Female protagonist

Back in January 2021, known Call of Duty leaker Tom Henderson was the first to report of a possible female protagonist in a GTA title. Schreier’s report now corroborated that GTA 6 will indeed feature a female lead. 

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time GTA will have a female protagonist. Back when the first-ever GTA came out in October 1997, it offered players to choose from four female characters — Divine, Katie, Mikki, and Ulrika. However, it should be noted that GTA was a very different game back then. These character names were merely placeholders as it didn’t really matter who you chose to play with as there was no voice acting or even 3D character models to begin with. So, if we are talking about a fully playable protagonist with identifiable characteristics and a dedicated storyline, GTA 6 will indeed be the first game in the franchise to have one.

GTA 6: Story

As per Schreier, GTA 6 will be a modern-day retelling of Bonnie and Clyde. So, players will be a choice of a female as well as a male character — something along the lines of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, which let players experience a two-character campaign, and not Assassin’s Creed Valhalla or Odyssey, which simply played out the same way irrespective of which character you chose to begin with. 

As per known tipster Matheusvictorbr-, GTA 6 will revolve around twin siblings — one male, one female — who get separated when they parents die and end up in the hands of the cartel in the early 2000s. The prologue could be set in Brazil. The main game campaign will unfold in a modern-day world, possibly 2023 or 2024. 

GTA 6: Maps

As per Schreier, GTA 6 will be based in Miami and its neighbouring areas. This report added fuel to longstanding rumours that Rockstar will be revisiting Vice City in a future GTA game, and now it appears that the sixth chapter of the franchise will take us back to the sun-kissed, crime-ridden streets of Vice City. 

Apart from a Miami-like world, GTA 6 will also place some chapters in the Caribbean islands, but it won’t be a part of the game’s main world — just like Guarma in Red Dead Redemption 2.

GTA 6 will reportedly launch with a moderately sized map at first. Given Rockstar’s fascination with incredibly detailed, vast worlds, the ‘moderately’ sized map may just turn out to be much larger than we are imagining now. Later on, this main map will be updated with new locations and points of interest. The GTA 6 map may turn out to be a cross-continental American map, with new cities and regions being added with each update. 

Will this mean GTA will turn into a live service game? Or will the new map regions be added like fresh DLCs, like The Witcher 3 or Ghost of Tsushima? Only time will tell. 

GTA 6: Platforms

GTA 6 is expected to release on Xbox and PlayStation, as well as PC.