GTA 5: new Grand Theft Auto release date delayed thanks to Max Payne 3

by Beatweek Staff

Grand Theft Auto 5 should still arrive this year, but don’t hope for a May 2012 release date for GTA 5. The hotly anticipated new generation of the video game focused on underworld crime sprees (read: you get to run people over in a tank) had been targeted for the first half of May by at least one analyst, but the recent delay in Max Payne 3 by developer Take-Two. That could leave rival Rockstar hesitant to launch GTA5 in the same month for fear of having to split any media hype and buying dollars between the two, that leaves the new Grand Theft Auto to slide back by at least a nominal amount of time…

Other analysts have pegged Grand Theft Auto 5 as being a summer 2012 release all along, meaning that the new May release date for Max Payne 3 won’t necessarily impact their predictions. The original GTA debuted some fifteen years ago and has since evolved across three subsequent generations in gameplay, setting, and gaming technology. The game was originally available for Windows but has since expanded to Xbox and Xbox 360. Late last year, GTA 3 debuted on iOS for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices.