Not too long after announcing the delay of their flagship next-gen AAA+ game, Rockstar Games appeased the masses with the uploading of a bombastic second trailer—showcasing Grand Theft Auto VI's various colorful cast members, Vice City locales, and spectacular visual effects. Online debaters have picked this cinematic preview apart; many doubters reckon that teaser material (mostly) consists of pre-rendered CGI—pumped out by "pro-grade" equipment. Many observers did not pick up on a small text detail—"captured on PS5"—at the tail end of the studio's GTA VI Trailer 2. To reiterate this point, the Rockstar Games official social media account sent out a bulletin. Yesterday evening's official alert insisted that their: "Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 2 was captured entirely in-game from a PlayStation 5, comprised of equal parts gameplay and cutscenes." This tidbit is also mentioned in the trailer's YouTube description.

Earlier today, the Digital Foundry team published their (must read, or watch) technical critique of Rockstar's forthcoming magnum opus. In their (collective) professional opinion, Rockstar's claim deserves merit: "the trailer was released in 4K at 30 FPS with black bars—producing a rather odd 20:9 aspect ratio—with text at the end of the trailer confirming it was recorded on a base PS5 instead of the more powerful PS5 Pro. Internal resolution counts come out at 1440p, or 2560x1152 to be exact—that's 80 percent of 1440p on the vertical axis. The trailer seems to be using a spatial upscaler, something like AMD's first-generation FSR, with that characteristic curved look present in fine detail like distant text. This means image quality is a little soft, but makes it more believable that the game is actually running on a base PS5, bearing in mind the relatively realistic details and graphical effects elsewhere." Going back to late 2024, another highly anticipated "AAA+" title was unveiled—The Witcher 4; with an Unreal Engine 5 underpinning. At the time, CD Projekt RED hinted about this fantasy blockbuster's introductory trailer being pre-rendered by an "unannounced NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU." We later learned that this mysterious bit of hardware was a formidable GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card. Given GTA VI's (2026) "consoles first" launch, Rockstar engineers do not have the luxury of (immediately) pairing their proprietary RAGE engine with cutting-edge hardware. An elevated visual feast—on PC platforms—is expected further down the line.

Take-Two Interactive—the owner of Rockstar Games—has publicly endorsed the studio's decision to delay the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI into 2026. Following months of insider whispers, long-time franchise fans were not surprised when reading Rockstar's apology. Initially, Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA VI) was pictured as an important system seller—industry experts and analysts theorized a sharp uptake of PlayStation 5 Pro units. Due to the AAA+ title's planned home console-exclusive release, many hardcore gamers would opt for the best available experience—enabled by flagship hardware.

Naturally, the game's publisher was looking forward to massive sale results in 2025—mainly driven by Rockstar's big open world blockbuster. With a revised release date of May 26—within the next financial year—company leadership remains confident about a current GTA VI-less calendar. Strauss Zelnick—Two Interactive Software's chairman and CEO—believes that an upward trajectory is still on the cards: "we support fully Rockstar Games taking additional time to realize their creative vision for Grand Theft Auto VI, which promises to be a groundbreaking, blockbuster entertainment experience that exceeds audience expectations. While we take the movement of our titles seriously and appreciate the vast and deep global anticipation for Grand Theft Auto VI, we remain steadfast in our commitment to excellence. As we continue to release our phenomenal pipeline, we expect to deliver a multi-year period of growth in our business and enhanced value for our shareholders."

If you've been missing the streets of Los Santos, I'm excited to share that Grand Theft Auto V is making its way back to Game Pass on April 15! And for those of us who play on PC, I'm even happier to announce that GTAV Enhanced will be playable with PC Game Pass, and includes the latest features, like Hao's Special Works Vehicles and more. Ultimate, PC, and Standard players—keep an eye on @GamePass and @XboxGamePassPC on April 15 for our favorite "available today" reminder!

GTA Online Features
Everyone playing GTAV Enhanced on PC will have access to new vehicles and modifications, Chameleon Paints, and a bunch more all in Hao's Special Works. When playing GTA Online, you'll need to make sure you and your friends are all playing in the same edition so you can squad up—the good news is that Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass Standard players have access to all console and PC editions so you can download to play whatever your friends are on. And PC Game Pass players, both editions are available for you to download and play, even if your friends are on Steam or Epic Games.

The upgrade for Grand Theft Auto V on PC is now available to play from the Rockstar Games Launcher, and also via Steam or Epic Games. Introducing features previously only available on the latest generation of consoles, this upgrade also optimizes the game experience and performance on modern PCs. Players who already own GTAV on PC can upgrade to this new version for free, with the ability to migrate your Story Mode and Online progress, while anyone jumping into GTAV and GTA Online on PC for the first time will get this new version (GTAV Enhanced) along with the original version (GTAV Legacy) when purchased.

GTA ONLINE FEATURES
Get access to powerful new vehicles, stunning Chameleon Paints, high-performance modifications, and much more—all from Hao's Special Works. Newly added vehicles for PC include the Pegassi Weaponized Ignus and Coil Cyclone II supercars, the Karin S95 sports car, the Imponte Arbiter GT muscle car, and the Pfister Astron Custom SUV, which join a fleet of 20 vehicles already available in GTA Online, and all are now available for tuning from HSW. Plus, GTA+ Members can claim a Principe Deveste Eight (Super) for free through May 28 as part of a special Classics Collection to commemorate GTA+ arriving on PC. Anyone looking to take in the fauna can also now relish in the animal ecosystem, with Ambient Animals encounters and a daily Wildlife Photography Challenge available from the LS Tourist Board at Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness.

Rockstar Games is proud to announce the acquisition of Video Games Deluxe, the Sydney-based development studio. The studio will be renamed Rockstar Australia. Video Games Deluxe has worked with Rockstar Games on some of its most memorable titles, including the 2017 re-releases of L.A. Noire, L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files, and most recently, on upgrades to Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition for iOS and Android, Netflix, and modern consoles.

"After working together closely over many years, we are excited to have Video Games Deluxe join the team as Rockstar Australia," said Rockstar Games Head of Publishing, Jennifer Kolbe.

On March 4, Grand Theft Auto V on PC is getting a free upgrade with sought-after features previously only available in the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of GTA Online—including all the latest vehicles and performance upgrades available at Hao's Special Works, animal encounters, and access to purchase a GTA+ Membership—along with improved graphics options, faster loading times, and more. All players who currently own GTAV on PC will be able to upgrade to this new version for free, with the ability to migrate your Story Mode and Online progress.

New Features on PC
Once upgraded, current PC players—along with anyone playing the game for the first time—will have access to a full suite of much-requested GTA Online upgrades previously only available on the latest consoles. This upgraded version of GTA V on PC also features all of our recent player experience improvements for GTA Online, including kernel-based anti-cheat protections and proactive voice chat moderation to help keep GTA Online fun for everyone.

Under normal circumstances, Grand Theft Auto VI-related leaks have emerged from nefarious sources. Mid-February news reports have pulled information from an unlikely, yet fairly legitimate announcement. GTA franchise fans would not expect a leak to emerge from a company dealing in peripherals, but Corsair Gaming's Ronald van Veen disclosed a slightly surprising prediction during a recent company call with investors. The organization's financial VP believes that incoming AAA-blockbuster title will launch on PC mere months after an exclusive debut on home gaming consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series). Famously, Rockstar Games reserves a sizable time gap between its console and PC rollouts. An official statement—made back in December 2023—revealed a potential repeat of this release cadence; PC-bound GTA players feared another agonizing two to three year wait.

During an earnings call, Corsair's finance chief discussed the impact of high-profile franchises: "in terms of new games, I mean, there's been a steady stream of games. What we really haven't had for the last year or two is what we could call a 'Fortnite moment' or 'PUBG moment.' So, people are typically playing older games. And I think for our component business and for people looking at new cards, obviously, that tends to depend on new games that are super demanding that you need high-performance graphics in order to get 60 frames a second...If you actually look at the numbers across the last five years, peripheral sales are substantially up, like 50% or 60% up compared to pre-COVID. So, more people are gaming, but not all are gaming on new games. The activity around PC builds or gaming PC builds is roughly on par with pre-COVID now....GTA VI is probably the one everyone is talking about. And we'll get a glimpse of that, I think, later in the year for console. My understanding now it's going to come out in the fall for console, and then early 2026 for PC." Take-Two's CEO—Strauss Zelnick—believes that Grand Theft Auto VI will boost consoles sales upon launch.

More than 600 games and applications feature RTX technologies, and each week new games integrating NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex and advanced ray-traced effects are released or announced, delivering the definitive PC experience for GeForce RTX players. This week, there's a ton of new releases and announcements, so let's dive on in. Following the launch of several great DLSS games last week, this week sees Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and Red Dead Redemption all launch with DLSS. And Torque Drift 2 is adding support for DLSS 3 Frame Generation.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Launches October 31st With DLSS 3, Reflex & Ray Tracing
Rise as Rook, Dragon Age's newest hero. Be who you want to be and play how you want to play as you fight to stop the gods from blighting the world in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. But you can't do this alone - the odds are stacked against you. Lead a team of seven companions, each with their own rich story to discover and shape, and together you will become The Veilguard. When BioWare and Electronic Arts' Dragon Age: The Veilguard launches on October 31st, you'll be able to accelerate performance with DLSS 3, and enhance image quality and immersion with ray-traced reflections and ray-traced ambient occlusion.

An unknown group leaked the source code of Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5) to the web. The group posted the source code up for downloads through media such as bit torrent. There is a dedicated Telegram channel for GTA leaks, in which the admin, who goes by "Phil," posted leaks to the alleged GTA 5 source code files, including screenshots of its root folder. He also paid homage to UK hacker Arion Kurtaj from the Lapsus$ group, which breached the networks of Rockstar Games in 2022. A UK Court last week sentenced Kurtaj, who is clinically diagnosed to be autistic, to be institutionalized indefinitely. The Telegram post by "Phil" shared not just links to the GTA 5 source code and screenshots, but also the hashtag "FreeArionKurtaj."

18-year old Arion Kurtaj from Oxford, UK, was a key member of the international hacking gang Lapsus$, which, among several cases of cyber crime against tech giants, has been behind the recent leak of the Grand Theft Auto VI video clips, ahead of the official trailer by Rockstar Games. Over the years, Lapsus$ hit big tech companies, including Rockstar Games, NVIDIA, and Uber, with their exploits assessed to have caused these companies about $10 million in losses. In an interesting twist to the case, the Kurtaj was deemed by doctors unfit to stand trial as he is severely autistic, and so the jury in the case was asked to determine only whether or not he committed the acts of cyber crime, and not if he did so with criminal intent.

The judge hearing the case said Kurtaj's skills and desire to commit cyber crime meant he remained a high risk to the public. While on bail from his previous arrest for hacking NVIDIA and UK telecommunication giants EE and BT, and in police protection in a hotel, Kurtaj pulled off his most daring hack of breaching Rockstar Games, using only an Amazon Firestick, his hotel's TV, and a mobile phone. He stole 90 clips of unreleased footage from gameplay of Grand Theft Auto VI. He also broke into Rockstar's internal Slack channel, threatening to leak the game's source code if the studio didn't contact him within 24 hours. He was immediately re-arrested and in lock-up until his trial. Rockstar Games told the court that it cost the company $5 million to recover from the hack, in staff billable hours.

Rockstar Games has officially released a Grand Theft Auto 6 (or VI) trailer that brings together millions of GTA series fans. However, the game will remain exclusive for gaming consoles at launch. On the landing page for GTA 6, there is a note that says, "Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet. Coming 2025 to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S." While the first trailer showed this, we now have written confirmation that GTA 6 is a console exclusive at launch, whenever it happens in 2025.

If long-time GTA gamers remember, the situation was very much the same with the launch of the fifth installment in the GTA series, GTA V, which got a PC port almost two years after the initial release. The GTA V was released in September 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles and got an upgrade to a new console cycle in November 2014 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Only in April 2015 was the game released for Windows-based PCs, as Rockstar took its time to polish the port and make it work with PC gamers' various hardware choices. While we hope to avoid seeing such a big cadence from console to PC port, it will surely take Rockstar some extra time to make a PC version run smoothly.

As the end of the year is getting closer, Rockstar Games has taken to social media to express heartfelt gratitude to its global community of players. The legendary game developer and publisher is poised to celebrate a quarter-century of industry-defining work since its inception in 1998. In a move that has electrified the gaming community, Rockstar Games has announced plans to unveil the first trailer for the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise in early December, on the company's 25th anniversary. The next-generation title is rumored to be called Grand Theft Auto VI (6), following the release of GTA V. In early December, we should see the first official trailer for GTA VI, which doesn't mean that the game is coming anytime soon.

On the contrary, the trailer could serve just to start the hype cycle. Sam Houser, the co-founder and president of Rockstar Games, has posted: "We are very excited to let you know that in early December, we will release the first trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto. We look forward to many more years of sharing these experiences with all of you." Therefore, an official launch date has yet to be set, so the community of GTA players around the globe needs to hold their patience a bit longer.

Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) could go down in history as the most expensive game production ever, with Rockstar Games pooling in anywhere between $1-2 billion. The open-world crime RPG is said to have the biggest map ever in the history of the franchise, with the most content (missions), and room for a vast multiplayer experience teetering on MMORPG. It is said to take gamers back to Vice City, the iconic setting that made GTA globally popular. The big budget could also mean Rockstar could rope in triple-A Hollywood actors to play key characters in the single-player campaign, as well as be playable characters in the multiplayer. Rockstar could also target nearly every gaming platform out there, spanning Windows PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and possibly even handhelds.

Rockstar Games responded to the recent leaks of its next "Grand Theft Auto" game in development, which was splattered all over YouTube over the weekend. The studio sent takedown-notices to several popular news sites re-posting the found-footage, and YouTube dutifully took videos from the major channels down, but the Internet never forgets. The footage has been re-posted by thousands of smaller, non-commercial users on YouTube and other social media. The game itself doesn't "look" too next-gen, because Rockstar is still designing its mechanics, and will probably work on the eye-candy much later. In its statement, Rockstar said that a network intrusion caused the footage to leak to the web, but assured gamers that the leak won't affect Rockstar's online services, and have no impact in the medium-long term on games that are in development.

The PC version of "Red Dead Redemption 2" received official support for the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 (FSR 2.0) performance enhancement with the latest Version 1.31 patch. The game now supports FSR 2.0 as well as DLSS. The update also includes improvements to the temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) implementation in the PC version. The update comes two months following a community mod that added FSR 2.0 to the game unofficially, which required you to run the game with its DirectX 12 renderer, and add or replace certain game files. The official 1.31 patch adds FSR 2.0 support for both the DirectX 12 and Vulkan renderers. The 433 MB patch is being pushed through Steam.

Remedy Entertainment, the creators of Max Payne, are pleased to announce that they will remake the iconic Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne video games in a new development agreement with Rockstar Games. The relationship between Remedy and Rockstar Games dates back to the original release of the critically acclaimed Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne games, developed by Remedy and published by Rockstar Games. Both games left an indelible mark in popular culture, lauded for their neo-noir atmosphere, groundbreaking storytelling and "bullet-time" gunplay.

"We were thrilled when our long-time friends at Remedy approached us about remaking the original Max Payne games," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games "We are massive fans of the work the Remedy team has created over the years, and we can't wait to play these new versions." "Max Payne has always held a special place in the hearts of everyone at Remedy, and we know the millions of fans worldwide feel the same," said Remedy CEO, Tero Virtala. "We're hugely excited to be working with our partners at Rockstar Games once again for the chance to bring the story, action and atmosphere of the original Max Payne games back to players in new ways."

The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series is one of the most popular game franchises ever created, with the latest version V (five), perhaps the most popular installment. However, GTA V was released back in September of 2013, and it is almost a nine-year-old game at this point. Without any regard to its Online part, fans of GTA need new content to keep them satisfied. For a while, we have been collecting rumors about the existence of GTA 6, a successor to the famous GTA V edition. Today, we got the information "straight from the horse's mouth," the game developer Rockstar Games, that the release of GTA 6 is "well underway."

Rockstar GamesWith the unprecedented longevity of GTAV, we know many of you have been asking us about a new entry in the Grand Theft Auto series. With every new project we embark on, our goal is always to significantly move beyond what we have previously delivered — and we are pleased to confirm that active development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is well underway. We look forward to sharing more as soon as we are ready, so please stay tuned to the Rockstar Newswire for official details.

Rockstar Games, the developer behind plenty of AAA titles, including Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2), is preparing an interesting update for all the RDR2 players. Called the "Blood Money" update, it brings new player activities to the Red Dead Online community. As Rockstar describes it, you will "Step into the criminal underworld of Red Dead Online: Blood Money on July 13, and prove you are willing to get your hands dirty in service to notorious and well-connected members of Saint-Denis society." While the update brings interesting content, it also integrates new technologies for visual/graphics improvements. NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) is also landing on July 13, allowing you to play the game with better performance and image quality if you have a GeForce RTX graphics card.Check out the Red Dead Online: Blood Money trailer below.

Rockstar Games have recently released Red Dead Online as a standalone game completely independent from the single-player components in Red Dead Redemption 2. Red Dead Online will feature the same content found in the complete game including future content updates. The game is now available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC along with Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 via backward compatibility modes. The standalone version of Red Dead Online is available from the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, Rockstar Games Launcher, Epic Games Store, and Steam for an introductory offer of 4.99 USD until February 15th, 2021 when the price will revert to 19.99 USD.

Rockstar Games is proud to announce that it has acquired Ruffian Games. Based in Dundee, Scotland, the studio will operate under the new name of Rockstar Dundee. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. "We are thrilled to have Ruffian join the Rockstar Games family," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "The Ruffian team are a talented addition to Rockstar's global studios, and we look forward to working together on future projects."

Founded in 2008 by Gary Liddon and Billy Thomson, Ruffian partnered with Microsoft to work on the Crackdown series, and with 343 Industries on Halo: Reach from the Halo Master Chief Collection, among many other projects. Ruffian's talented team of just over 40 have a depth of development experience that even includes some early Rockstar titles from the Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt series. Both Liddon and Thomson will remain on-board as Co-Studio Directors of Rockstar Dundee.

Epic Games has just done something that's sure to garner a lot of attention: they're offering free copies of Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V. Yes, you can stop reading now and go on and grab it; you know you want to, even if you've played it on console already. The game is the latest entry in one of the most legendary franchises in gaming, and as it stands, counts with a 96 Metascore and a 7.8 user score. Even though the game has been released over five years ago, it's still one of the greatest, featuring a live community on its online components.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (PC) is TechPowerUp Game of the Year 2019. Decided purely by popular vote of our readers with close to 13,000 respondents, the Rockstar Games open-world got the most votes among 16 entries that included a large number of commercially, critically, and technically acclaimed PC games released in 2019. The PC version of Red Dead Redemption (or RDR2), had enough technical differentiation from its console releases to not strictly qualify as a "PC port."

RDR2 game took advantage of the increased hardware resources of modern PCs to bring to life higher visual fidelity, support for higher display resolutions, and a suitably improved input mechanic taking advantage of PC input devices. We asked our readers not to judge a game by its technical merits alone, but as an artistic and interactive achievement. It should be a fun game to play foremost, with an intuitive gameplay mechanic, an engaging risk-reward mechanic, and draw the player into its world. For these reasons and more, RDR2 is the pick of the TechPowerUp community, and we as its editors couldn't agree with the popular vote more.

Rockstar Games has dropped a launch trailer for their upcoming PC release of the critically-acclaimed Red Dead Redemption 2. Fret not if you're worried about spoilers (though the game has indeed released quite a while ago): the trailer is only one minute long. There are some specific PC improvements to the title, such as support for up to 8K resolutions (good luck on that), support for higher framerates than on consoles, HDR, and support for non-standard monitor ratios.

The PC version of the game will also introduce a new photo mode for all you photography enthusiasts out there - even though it's in-game, it should still count. One of the things the PC version of the game won't ship with - sadly - is support for raytracing. There were some rumors running around the web regarding support for raytracing on the Rockstar Release due to some screenshots outed by NVIDIA that sported an RTX logo on the bottom right corner, but those served only as marketing for their latest 20-series graphics cards. No raytracing will be available in this game - and there is no reason to think it might.

Highly anticipated version of Red Dead Redemption 2 for PC is now available for pre-order. Launching on November 5th, this game will be available for pre-purchase starting from today until October 22nd, when the pre-order period will end. For now, ordering is exclusive to the Rockstar Games Launcher, Rockstar's version of Steam/Epic Store for its own games.

For all pre-purchases, Rockstar has prepared a heap of extra bonuses. For starters, users can choose any two games from the selection of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto:Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Bully: Scholarship Edition, L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition, Max Payne 3: The Complete Edition, for free. Additionally, every pre-purchase made through Rockstar Game Launcher will result in a free upgrade to the premium edition of Red Dead Redemption 2, where ultimate and special edition will get a $20 discount if users want to upgrade. Furthermore, there are additional bonuses that include Outlaw Survival Kit for Story Mode, War Horse for Story Mode, Le Trésor des Morts Treasure Map for Story Mode, Cash Bonus for Story Mode, 50 gold Bars for Red Dead Online. To add thing up, PC port of RDR2 will feature updated graphics to harness the power PC graphics cards offer with features like HDR for better visual effects.

Rockstar Games revealed that its hotly anticipated PC version of "Red Dead Redemption 2" will launch across three digital platforms. Pre-orders for the game will open on Rockstar Games Launcher on October 9th. At launch on November 5th, the game will be available on the Epic Games Store. This "exclusivity" will remain for a month, when in December, the game becomes available on Steam. Both Steam and Epic Games Store form concentric DRM layers to the Rockstar Games Launcher, and the game will be available on this launcher throughout, including pre-orders. Buyers are expected to be drawn to Epic Games Store or Steam to take advantage of regional pricing.