Official GTA V for Xbox One & PS4 Release Date Remains Elusive

With Rockstar Games confirming that they have planes for a GTA V for Xbox One & PS4 release date sometime in 2014, rumors are varying widely. Screenshots of a potential GTA V for Xbox One & PS4 release date indicate that users can expect the game to launch this November, meanwhile some isolated reports say that the game could be delayed.

Talk of a potential delay in the GTA V for Xbox One and PS4 surfaced last week after a YouTube video producer with close ties to the video game industry indicated that sources he’d spoken with had inside knowledge on what’s going on inside Rockstar Games. As the story goes, allegedly, Rockstar showed the game to retailers at a closed-door meeting at this year’s Gamescom trade-show, but decided not to show the game to anyone else. Reportedly, there was chatter of GTA V for Xbox One & PS4 not making its way to store shelves until sometime in 2015 due to delays.

Rockstar Games later gutted those claims, saying on its support site that, “This [GTA V release window] has not changed” and inviting users to look at their most recent support article on the game for information. That support article plus an earning call with Take-Two Interactive, the company in charge of publishing the game, still indicate that the GTA V for Xbox One & PS4 release date is still planned for later this fall.

With a GTA V for Xbox One & PS4 release date still confirmed for this year, many users likely went scouring internet retail websites for any leaks on launch date details. Presumably, most of them found nothing, but one who shared screenshots with IGN did come across sales listings for the game at Newegg. Those listings indicating that Xbox One, PS4 and PC users can expect GTA V to launch on those consoles on November 18th, right in the middle of the holiday buying season.

Read: GTA 5 PS4 vs PS3 Video Shows A Huge Reason to Upgrade

To be clear, retailers routinely include place-holder launch dates in their listings until they have a firm one form a developer. As such, November 18th could very well not be the GTA V for Xbox One & PS4 release date.

That being said, November 18th is a Tuesday, which is when high-profile retail games usually launch. Additionally, it’s just before the official holiday shopping season kicks off on Thanksgiving. It’s also just after Halo: The Master Chief Collection arrives on the Xbox One and Assassin’s Creed Unity and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare arrive on the Xbox One and PS4.

Take-Two would need to position the game on a week where the competition wasn’t stiff if it hopes to garner a lot of attention for the release. GTA V launched last year to stunning sales and crowds, but it did so at a time when very little else was on store shelves. The Xbox One and PS4 didn’t arrive until November and many game companies were saving their high-profile titles to help their October and early November sales before the new generation of consoles began. Even from that standpoint this rumored November 18th GTA V for Xbox One & PS4 makes sense.

Of course, speculation is one thing and what we’re really waiting for is for Rockstar to officially announce when the game is arriving. GTA V sold millions of copies for the Xbox 360 and PS3 last year, but it’s possible some users held out, hoping that version for the newer consoles and Windows PCs would arrive at some point. It’s also absolutely crucial that Rockstar delivers an updated version of GTA V for newer consoles. The games’ Grand Theft Auto Online multiplayer needs a decent user base to remain viable. Most would argue that the more users switch to newer consoles the less likely they are to use their old console.