Now that we know GTA 6 is officially in development, speculation of what it might actually contain is well on the way.
And while any purported leaks at this early stage should be treated with extreme scepticism, one interesting one has emerged that certainly feels plausible.
"Hearing some internal buzz about the name of the next GTA Franchise Title, something like GTA Vice," tweeted @Matheusbr9895_, translated from Portuguese to English via Google Translate. "Subject to change at final announcement," the account added.
If true, that would confirm the longstanding rumor that the next instalment of the Grand Theft Auto franchise will be returning to Vice City — Rockstar’s take on Miami — for the first time since 2006’s Vice City Stories on PSP.
Notably, this wouldn’t necessarily involve dropping the number, given the first two letters of Vice also happen to be the Roman numerals for six. It all depends on how Rockstar chooses to style it on the logo.
This might all be complete nonsense, of course, and a cynic would note that the "subject to change" caveat is a handy get-out-of-jail card for someone just making things up for internet points.
Long wait ahead
We may have to wait some time to find out if both the setting and name are correct. On the GTAForums, the Twitter user responded to a question about when we might know more by saying that we should "expect the usual initial announcement we are used to this year." It’ll be "work in progress materials," he added, "like the first GTAV trailer."
Elsewhere, he said that, last he heard, Rockstar’s deadline was "Holiday 2023," but noted that it could slip into the following year. "Of course that's months old information, could have changed by now," he added.
Since GTA V was released nine years ago, Rockstar has busied itself with a handful of projects, most notably the critically acclaimed Red Dead Redemption 2 and the considerably less well received GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition, which proved to be anything but definitive.
Its next release will be another remaster — GTA V for Xbox Series X and PS5 — the third generation of console hardware to host the game.
