'GTA 6' release date rumors: Open-world setting and new platforms could be worth the wait

A screen capture from "Grand Theft Auto 5's" offical gameplay on YouTube. The gaming industry is thrilled with the upcoming release of "Grand Theft Auto 6."YouTube/Rockstar Games

With the success of "Grand Theft Auto 5," ("GTA 5") Rockstar Games has been taking its time developing the next iteration to this popular franchise. It will be almost four years since "GTA 5" came out and a new version may be in the horizon.

Fans and industry insiders speculate that "GTA 6" may come out in 2020 which is three years away. According to Hall of Fame, the reason for the delayed launch was that Rockstar Games reported an increase of five million copies sold worldwide in the previous year. This made it one of the best-selling games in video game history, which resulted in Rockstar taking things in stride.

Telegiz reported that another cause for delay was that development of Rockstar's other game "Red Dead Redemption 2" was pushed back to 2018. This is the sequel to their hit "Red Dead Redemption" which premiered in 2010. That being said, "GTA 6" had to be pushed back to 2020 to make way for the third installment in the "Red Dead" series.

With the date pushed back, fans have reason to grumble, but some rumors about future features in "GTA 6" have caught their interest. In an interview with Digital Trends, Rockstar North head Leslie Benzies said he envisioned an open-world system wherein players could travel wherever they wanted and explored places and cities that they had visited previously.

"Of course at some point we would like to have one big world containing all our cities and let the player fly between them and revisit their favorite areas," Benzies explained. This new feature could bring "GTA 6" to the next level.

By 2020, the PlayStation 5 (PS5) is expected to be launched, which would be around the same time "GTA 6" would be released. Fans surmise that the game would be available on the PS5. Not only that, "GTA 6" may also be available on the Xbox One X at that point in time.

These are all, of course, speculations. Things will begin to unravel for "GTA 6" as 2020 nears.