If you were bracing for a long wait before Grand Theft Auto VI's multiplayer component showed up, new information suggests the anxiety might be overblown.
TheGhostOfHope, a leaker with enough credibility that Activision Blizzard once sent them a cease-and-desist over Call of Duty leaks, claims the current plan at Rockstar Games is to release GTA Online for Grand Theft Auto VI within a month of the base game's launch. The leaker posted this on X, framing it plainly: "up to you guys if you wanna believe me on this or not, but hearing from someone that the current plan for GTA 6 is to launch online within a month after the release of the game."
This actually happened before
This would not be unprecedented for Rockstar. Grand Theft Auto Online launched a few weeks after Grand Theft Auto V back in 2013, so the studio has done exactly this before. The community itself pointed this out in replies to TheGhostOfHope's thread, with one commenter noting the timelines were not that different from the GTA V rollout. Hope acknowledged the parallel, noting that some people online seemed to treat a launch-window GTA Online as somehow unthinkable for this game.
It is not unthinkable. It is, in fact, the historical baseline.
The PC situation is murkier
What most players miss in the conversation around GTA 6's launch is that the PC version is a separate timeline entirely. TheGhostOfHope did not have a clear answer on PC, but flagged that another community leaker has suggested the PC release could come 12 to 18 months after the console version. That is a significant gap, and PC players who have been following gaming news will know this pattern is not unusual for Rockstar, given that GTA V's PC port arrived nearly two years after the original console launch.
So the picture looks something like this:
- Console launch: base game
- Within roughly 30 days: GTA Online goes live
- PC version: potentially 12 to 18 months later (per a separate, unverified community leak)
Why the rollout structure matters
Rockstar's approach to staggering the online component is deliberate. Launching the single-player campaign first gives the servers a cleaner start and lets the player base settle before the multiplayer chaos begins. GTA Online on GTA V became its own cultural phenomenon for over a decade, and Rockstar will want the infrastructure for the new version to hold up from day one rather than repeat the rocky launch the original GTA Online had in 2013.
A one-month window also gives players time to finish the story before the online world opens up, which is probably exactly how Rockstar wants it.
For console players, this is genuinely good news if it holds. For PC players, the wait looks considerably longer. Check the latest reviews and gaming coverage as Rockstar gets closer to confirming anything official, because when they do move, they tend to move fast. Make sure to check out more:
