However, that is incredibly unlikely. In comparison to other games with highly anticipated appearances, it’s far more like that Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4, Elden Ring, and a ton of others that have been MIA in marketing to appear at E3 than it is for GTA 6. Any rumors suggesting so, or using E3 as a way to promote their rumor, are 99.9% likely to be false.

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Dismantling GTA 6 Rumors

Perhaps the greatest hope for its appearance comes from E3 itself. A few weeks ago, when asked if the game would take the stage, the official E3 Twitter account responded with a GIF of patting Stitch’s head (as seen above). While some have taken this as some sign of its appearance, it’s far more likely to be a teasing non-response. Unrelated and in the following weeks, map leaks have reared their head (again), playtesters have “leaked” details, and more. The weeks leading into E3 are always ripe for rumors, credible or otherwise, and it seems that GTA 6 rumors are doubling down.

However, none of these are to be believed. Sure, the GIF is up for interpretation, but it’s far from confirmation. The rumors are far beneath that, as none have any sort of credibility, and that’s only one reason fans shouldn’t trust any rumors about Grand Theft Auto 6, much less any now heading into E3.

Grand Theft Auto 6 at E3 2021 Would Require One Thing That’s Not Likely to Happen

Ignoring the rumors, Grand Theft Auto 6 gracing the stage would mean Rockstar Games also taking the stage. Take-Two Interactive, its parent company, is confirmed for E3, but that’s a big umbrella. It’s unlikely for Rockstar to be there, as it almost never is. Rockstar has its own approach to teasing, announcing, and releasing games, and E3 isn’t quite part of that equation. Now, it’s not impossible that Rockstar throws everyone for a loop and appears at E3 2021, but on the high off-chance that it did, it still probably wouldn’t talk about GTA 6.

While there’s a lot of projects fans would love to see from the company, ranging from the next Red Dead and GTA to a less likely Bully sequel (and more), fans do know what Rockstar’s current project is. Grand Theft Auto 5 is releasing on PS5 and Xbox Series X on November 11, 2021, and while there are rumors that new content in it will tease/reveal Grand Theft Auto 6 (again, yet another rumor), it’s highly unlikely Rockstar talks about the sequel before its next-gen predecessor releases.

Rockstar has a certain reputation: high-quality games at a slow pace. This is even more so now as Rockstar Games is reportedly reducing crunch by integrating a style of incremental development and release for GTA 6, and that puts the game out even further (for good reason). Overall, GTA 6 probably isn’t as close as a lot of people like to think, and with the next-gen version of GTA 5 likely to continue its dominance on the gaming market, there’s still not a lot of reason for Rockstar to go all-in with a sequel just yet.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is reportedly in development.

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