GTA 5 PC Release Date and News; GTA 6 Rumors Points to Possible Female Main Character

Jan 05, 2015 06:36 PM EST

GTA V
GTA 5 features three main characters, but will GTA 6 feature a female protagonist? Photo: Rockstar North

Although rumors started spreading recently that Rockstar Games would be delaying the PC launch of Grand Theft Auto 5 after Valve replaced the January launch date to "Early 2015," Rockstar confirmed that the January 27 date is still a go.

"GTA V will be coming to PC on January 27th," the message states on the developer's support site. "We have not announced any changes to this date at this time."

Grand Theft Auto 5 is an open-world action game set in the ficticious present-day area of San Andreas. Its crime-based, story-driven plot is played in either first-person or third-person perspective and allows you to play as and follow the story of three separate main characters that can be switched during gameplay.

The game was originally released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on September 17, 2013, and for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 18, 2014. January 27 will mark the first time the game has released for the PC, following a tradition of late releases for PC versions on Rockstar games.

In addition to this GTA 5 launch news, there's also been quite a stir around what's to come with the next game in the series, presumably called GTA 6.

According to a report at Master Herald, GTA 6 is rumored to be released in 2017 for the PlayStation 4 with no mention of release for any other platform just yet. But, as the site points out, Rockstar hasn't officially confirmed these speculations, and haven't even revealed a direction for the highly anticipated follow-up to the popular game series.

"According to the studio, they have lots of different ideas that they want to play with, and they don't actually have a concrete direction for the game's development at this point," Master Herald reports. "This apparently also includes the game's location, something that has been speculated quite actively around the Internet lately."

As for now, the rumors focus on a large multiplayer presence in GTA 6, which only makes sense following the relatively positive response to GTA Online, included with GTA V last year. Although the inclusion of the multiplayer aspect of GTA V was considered experimental, it proved to be a popular destination for GTA fans who wanted to join together with other players around the world -- especially with the anticipated Heists DLC feature.

Another interesting rumor surrounding GTA 6 is word that the main character will be female -- a first for a GTA game. This is especially probable if the company wants to separate itself from continued reports of misogyny in the GTA game world. But how that female protagonist is portrayed is another important question, and whether the studio will continue with its multiple main character mechanic from GTA 5 is also yet to be seen.

In a 2013 interview with The Guardian, Rockstar studio co-founder Dan Houser explained the lack of a female character in GTA V as necessary because "the concept of being masculine was so key to this story." But considering the backlash from that statement, we expect the female main character rumors to be true.

In any case, a 2017 launch date isn't too far off the mark if you look at when previous games in the series have launched, but a PS4 exclusive would be an interesting change.