Fall 2025. That is the expected release date for GTA 6 on consoles. With about 12 years since GTA 5, the release date for GTA 6 has been the subject of plenty of mockery and memes. While GTA 6 is an extreme example, this is part of a larger trend in the games industry. AAA games take longer to make than ever due to increased scope and complexity (Take for example Metroid Dread, a game that took around 15 years to make) however, independent games also can take a long time to make due to factors like low staff numbers and a lack of funding.
Additionally, any game developer can tell you that video games have so many parts and if any of those parts are malfunctioning, then many other parts will also not work. Also, problems in game production often involving management and creative/legal issues that result in a game being delayed or in limbo are so common they have a name, “Development Hell”. While long production cycles and development hells are disheartening, they are arguably better than the other end of the spectrum: games that are released too early often in a bugged or broken state (Fallout 76, Cyberpunk 77, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, etc.). This idea is perfectly encapsulated in a quote often attributed to the creator of Mario Bros, Shigeru Miyamoto, “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad”.
Another major issue is staffing for game studios, budget constraints require major layoffs for these companies, so they are often short-staffed. And the staff that these game studios have must work long hours, especially during “crunch time” before a deadline where staff usually work insane, usually unpaid, overtime. As a result of this the video games industry has a high turnover rate.
And the final major issue is one of marketing, many game studios simply just announce games too early, causing antsy fans. In summary, many games seem to take so long to make because of increased scope, many parts, legal/creative disputes, staffing issues, and flawed marketing. While gamers everywhere may have to wait some time for GTA 6, at least they can rest easy knowing that Rockstar Games is trying to create a polished experience.
