Less than three weeks remain until the reveal of Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look, but those hoping to hear anything about multiplayer will have to wait. Renowned Bloomberg gaming journalist Jason Schreier stated that Take-Two and Rockstar have no plans to reveal details about the new online mode anytime soon. Their focus is solely on the single-player campaign.
GTA 6 is scheduled for release on November 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and An Extended Look is scheduled for August 27 – it will air exclusively on Netflix at 3:00 PM ET, followed by a YouTube reveal six hours later. It’s expected to be a lengthy trailer, but online isn’t even mentioned.
In a recent video, Schreier stated bluntly: “Take-Two is talking about GTA 6 exclusively in the context of the single-player game… They haven’t talked about or plan to talk about what the new GTA Online will look like anytime soon.” And that’s no coincidence.
According to leaked Rockstar financial documents, the current GTA Online brings in around $500 million annually. That’s roughly $9.6 million every week. Since 2014, microtransactions have earned the company over $5 billion. Clearly, announcing a replacement for such a money machine would mean driving players to the point where they’ll stop spending in the old version. Rockstar operates on the principle of “single-player first, online later”—and this isn’t just a tradition, it’s the only aspect of their marketing strategy they’re willing to discuss.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, incidentally, recently called GTA 6 pre-orders “unprecedented and astounding,” but immediately added, “We haven’t sold a single copy yet—pre-orders can be canceled… we’re unfazed and indifferent to winning until the finish line.” The company reported $1.39 billion in revenue for its first fiscal quarter—and that’s just for the five days of open pre-orders in June. Zelnick also admitted that he has a “top secret” plan for November 19th. What that plan is remains a secret. There’s only one clue: Rockstar doesn’t want to dampen demand before the release.
As for the timeline, rumors are already pointing to December 2026. Insider TheGhostOfHope hinted back in April that GTA Online 2 could launch within a month of its release. If the game launches on November 19th, then the online mode would tentatively reach players before the Christmas holidays, somewhere in mid- to late December. However, neither Rockstar nor Take-Two have officially confirmed this.
To put it mildly, the previous GTA Online launched two weeks after GTA V in 2013. Back then, Rockstar also kept silent about multiplayer until the very release. History repeats itself—and that’s not surprising. What’s next? We likely won’t hear a word about online mode until November 19th. The Netflix reveal will take place soon, on August 27th, and if Schreier is right, the next trailer won’t feature a single second of multiplayer. The race for information continues.
Practical takeaway: if you’re looking forward to GTA Online 2, don’t get hung up on pre-release announcements. Rockstar excels at maintaining suspense. Keep an eye on November 19th, and in the meantime, enjoy the anticipation—it’s worth it.
