Why does Grand Theft Auto 6 keep getting delayed?

"Here we go again."

When Grand Theft Auto 6 was delayed on Thursday, the famous quote from the series perfectly captured the feelings of many video game fans.

Resignation, frustration, déjà vu.

It's the second time maker Rockstar Games has told players they'll have to wait even longer for what is likely to be one of the biggest entertainment releases ever.

The notoriously perfectionist developer has a history of holding on to its blockbusters until it's happy with them, so the news wasn't a complete surprise.

But it has got millions asking what's taking so long, and why.

Rockstar Games officially confirmed it was working on GTA 6 in February 2022 and an initial trailer, released almost 18 months later, said it would come out in 2025.

It also revealed that the game features two protagonists - couple Jason and Lucia - and takes place in Leonida, a fictional US state based on Florida.

Rockstar later announced the game had been pushed back, providing an exact date of 26 May 2026.

This got fans excited, especially when some realised it was the date of Bonnie and Clyde's funeral.

The famous outlaw lovers are thought to have provided inspiration for GTA 6's lead characters, and the timing seemed too perfect to pass up.

But in the end, it was. The game has received another delay and a new release date of 19 November 2026.

Even Grand Theft Auto is not immune from factors that affect any company making a modern blockbuster video game.

Development has become more expensive, more complex, and the gap between big releases has been widening.

But there are some challenges unique to Rockstar.

The first is hype.

Both of GTA 6's trailers have smashed YouTube viewership records, and it regularly tops lists of the public's most-anticipated games.

Strauss Zelnick, boss of Rockstar's parent company Take-Two Interactive, has said that each new release from the developer needs to wow players.

Rockstar is known for breaking new ground with its games, and its last big release, the western adventure Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR 2), helped to bolster that reputation

It is still widely considered a benchmark for open-world video games due to its depth and obsessive attention to detail, despite coming out in 2018.

The studio's impressive track record is attributed to its famously high standards which, in turn, creates ever-higher expectations for its games.

Maintaining its rep is something Rockstar appears to take seriously - both RDR 2 and 2013's GTA 5 were delayed twice.

And when Mr Zelnick was quizzed on GTA 6's recent delay at a meeting with investors this week, he told them those working on the game were "seeking perfection".

Another unique factor in Rockstar's case is the continued success of its existing library.

GTA 5 is the second best-selling game of all time, and continues to rack up sales 13 years after release.

It sold 730,000 copies in the UK alone last year, according to the Entertainment Retail Association, while RDR 2 sold 350,000 copies in the same period.

That put both games in 2024's top ten for video game sales.

And then there's GTA Online, the wildly successful multiplayer mode that continues to rank among the world's most-played games every month.

It's been credited with bringing in a big chunk of the $8.9bn (£6.7bn) the series has reportedly made since the release of GTA 5.

Its sequel is expected to be one of the most expensive video games of all time, but Rockstar is still making money from its older titles.

However, Take Two said this week that it had seen an expected decline in GTA Online's numbers.

Experts have previously told BBC Newsbeat that the true success of GTA 6 will be measured by how well it manages to lure current players over to its own online mode.

Where GTA is concerned, there are no guarantees.

Rockstar has previously been accused of forcing employees into "crunch", or mandatory overtime, in order to hit release dates and deadlines.

The practice, which has been employed by other big game developers, has been heavily criticised for keeping workers away from their families and driving them to exhaustion.

Rockstar said at the time no-one was forced to work extra hours but it was always looking at methods to improve the ways it worked.

Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who published in-depth reports on RDR 2's development, said there appears to be a "real desire" from studio management to avoid crunch on GTA 6.

Earlier this week, 30 employees who were sacked by Rockstar accused it of trying to prevent them from unionising.

The company denied this and accused the workers of committing gross misconduct by sharing confidential information - something the IWGB Game Workers' union has rejected.

It is unlikely that the sackings are directly related to the recent delay, but the loss of experienced staff could have an impact on the game's development.

For now, most fans seem happy to wait a little longer for what many of them expect to be the "game of the century".

Whether their patience will pay off, or be wasted, is in the hands of Rockstar.