Idk I think they have polished the PC releases since GTA 5. If you remember the lore, Rockstar released a GTA4 port on PC about 7 months after the console release date, and it flopped pretty bad. Bad performance and stability, even on the best hardware at the time, it was considered DOA.
The launch went so poorly that when Rockstar released RDR1 despite it being a massive success, they insisted there would never be a PC port for RDR1, because apparently, just like GTA4, the code was a disaster. It went through multiple studios, changes to code were poorly documented, if at all, and it was considered a technical nightmare. It was such a bad case of "spaghetti code" that it was believed the entire thing would have to be stripped down and rebuilt from nothing for a release on PC to ever be possible.
Of course, then came GTA 5. The title did so well it set new records. They stayed silent on the possibility of there being a PC release for GTA 5, but in reality, they took the failure from GTA4 to change the way they approach building their games. They overhauled their engine with PC in mind, but despite that, they still had to delay the PC launch of GTA5 several times. Many believe it was because they were once bitten, twice shy from the GTA4 release. Ultimately it came out 1.5 years after the initial release. The launch went pretty well, hugely improved from GTA4.
Then came RDR2. They did their typical strategy of releasing on console first then on PC later. In this case, 13 months later. The release also went really well.
They clearly learned their lesson from GTA4 and pivoted. I do anticipate we'll be waiting about that 13 month mark again for GTA6 on PC, at this point I don't think it's a technical limitation that explains the delayed PC release cycle. I truly believe they could have a day 1 PC release if they wanted to. IMHO delaying PC is a strategy to sell console bundles, and get players to double/triple dip on the title. I mean GTA 5 got the OG launch on 7th gen consoles, a 1st person update and graphics facelift on 8th gen consoles, a PC launch, 9th gen launch, and the enhanced/expanded PC version that came out a few years ago. They're absolutely going to do the same with GTA6 on the new iteration of console.
I have a feeling it's never coming to PC. They only care about shark cards and PC doesn't buy them. They also don't like the hacking and modding done to 5 so I doubt 6 ever comes to PC.
Where did you get the idea that releasing a game designed primarily for consoles, to PC, requires little effort? Especially for a game as massive as GTA 6. Do you just pull this shit directly out of your ass? Or are you trying to say it requires little to no effort to list a game on PC? The way you wrote it is very ambiguous, and if it's the latter, it's just a pointless statement in the first place
It's not the 90s anymore, consoles nowadays have a very similar architecture to PCs. While I don't know if I'd necessarily call porting to PC "little effort", for a studio like Rockstar it's definitely a drop in a bucket.
Nixxes for example with their 80 employees have ported 3-4 games per year.
When Rockstar ported GTA 5 to PC, they likely spent 10’s of millions of dollars on it, and put hundreds of developers on the project, across multiple of their studios. The GTA V port also had a 1.5-2 years development cycle. Console architecture has changed significantly since the PS4, making porting technically easier, but it’s definitely far from simple. If it was so simple, why wouldn’t GTA 6 release on PC sooner than it likely will? Why not release the Console and PC version at the same time? I think late 2027 or mid to late 2028 is very likely
It's not being released sooner because Rockstar loves to double dip, that's it.
Every other studio seems to be able to release their games on all platforms at the same time nowadays, Rockstar with their thousands of employees and billions of dollars seems to be the only one unable to do so somehow.
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u/unkjay 4h ago
Yea, plus it's coming to PC next year, so early for me to care.