Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the biggest games of all time. Its follow-up, Grand Theft Auto 6, has the potential to be even bigger. But, apart from being confirmed and hyped as the new "creative benchmark" of the entertainment industry, we know very little about the game except for the leaked footage from September. Thankfully, insiders and eagle-eyed observers have been very active in feeding us fans info about GTA 6. Tom Henderson is one of those credible sources of GTA games and, he recently dumped a bunch of fuel into the rumor-filled dumpster fire.

In a recent article, Henderson predicted certain things for next year, which included GTA 6, saying:

Despite being flamed from the GTA community in the summer of 2021 for my report, I said that GTA 6 will release in either 2024 – 2025, which is a firm date I strongly still believe is happening. A 2023 announcement would line up with these years perfectly, especially if you’re familiar with how Rockstar Games and Take-Two have generally handled their game announcements and releases in the past.

On one hand, Henderson's got a point. On the other hand, this is speculative info, at best.

Of course, when it comes to leaked information, Henderson is up there among the best of them. So, if anything else, we'll take his words with fewer grains of salt compared to other insiders.

If you connect the dots though, Henderson's belief in the release date of GTA 6 makes a ton of sense. Keep in mind that he was one of the first to mention "2025" as when GTA 6 will be out. If he insists that this is the case, the least we can do is to look out for an announcement next year. If nothing else, another leaker is claiming the same thing as well. Also, Microsoft might not have been necessarily wrong in its prediction. GTA 6 could come out in FY2024.

Although the GTA franchise has traditionally stuck to a Fall release window, the times have changed. The first quarter of the year (or the last quarter of the fiscal year, if we're speaking in business terms) is where the party's at these days. Case in point, next year's biggest titles such as Forspoken, Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, Hogwarts Legacy as well as Skull and Bones and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, among others, are all coming out between January through March.

Releasing GTA 6 earlier in the year could bring about a seismic shift in the gaming industry and solidify the first few months as a legitimate release window for upcoming AAA titles.