While it seems like a foregone conclusion that Rockstar is working on Grand Theft Auto 6, the company has yet to go into detail on it, but there have been plenty of leaks and whispers dating all the way back to 2018. There is also the fact that it just makes too much sense. While it's true that GTA 6 is starting to look like Half-Life 3, there are plenty of reasons to think the two titles aren't all that similar. One reason it seems as if Grand Theft Auto 6 is coming sooner, rather than laterm, is the reemergence of a series of leaks around what some in the gaming public refer to as "Project Americas."
At its essence, the rumors around Project Americas encapsulates the entirety of Grand Theft Auto 6. However, one of the reasons the next installment in the franchise has that purported code name has quite a bit to do with the size of the game's map. The game's map isn't the only part of this new round of rumors though. The leaks that first started circulating the web have also included information about what the story in GTA 6 is going to be, as well as what time period players can expect to spend their time. The big question now is whether or not the rumors of Project Americas starting back up again mean it's actually going to happen.
Long-Running Rumors
One of the reasons it's hard to take rumors around Grand Theft Auto 6 seriously is that some have been around for so long. That's not to say that all old rumors are false rumors. The thing that makes at least some of the rumors that have surfaced is that there's really never been any kind of confirmation. The first rumblings started all the way back in 2018, and that was when the first talk about Project Americas, named so due to its map, started.
The leaked map was largely dismissed because the images that hit the web weren't high quality. In fact, the pictures of the different pieces of land that are supposed to be made up of the GTA 6 map looked like they were worse than just low quality. They look crude. They looked as though someone might have made them with some rather low-quality software and then pushed them as something that was snuck off Rockstar Games servers. The counterpoint to that argument was that the image might have been such low quality is because the company wasn't anywhere near ready to show off the images.
Fast forward to the fall of 2020 and even more landmasses that were supposed to be part of the Project Americas map surfaced online yet again. Those who believed the leak was accurate pointed out it was possible these new images were souped-up versions of the old ones intended for Grand Theft Auto 6. That didn't mean that the images were all fake. In fact, the rumblings were that the better quality images floating out on the internet again made some believe the entire group of rumors was true.
Story And Release Date
While the size of the map is one of the biggest aspects of the Project Americas rumors, just who might appear and what the story might be is also a big part of rumblings around GTA 6. The problem is that quite a few of the rumors that started to get big were almost immediately knocked down as assuredly false. It's gotten to the point where Elden Ring fans were starting to have quite a bit in common with GTA 6 fans. The leaks and talk about what's supposedly coming to the next installment of the series started getting pumped out so fast and furiously that it was hard to keep up with what was considered believable and what wasn't.
One of the most persistent rumors and one that hasn't been knocked down by those purporting to be insiders is that Grand Theft Auto 6 is returning to Vice City. The talk about going back to one of the most popular settings in the series was boosted by an update to a website registered to Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar's parent company. It looked like it was getting the website rockstarcartel.com ready for some kind of big announcement.
The cartel aspect stuck out because it seemed to underline what was a big part of Project Americas rumors. Those rumors said the giant map contained the Grand Theft Auto 5 map, as well as several other cities and perhaps even other countries. One part of the massive map was said to also include at least one South American Country. While none of this has been confirmed, as Rockstar Games hasn't even confirmed there is something called Grant Theft Auto 6 in the works, this particular set of rumors seems to connect some dots.
Project Americas Rumors Persist
One thing that can be said about all of the Project Americas rumors is that it's hard to nail down what should be believed and what is nothing more than talk from people who don't know the truth. Even when rumors appear to be based on things like a website getting an update, it's important to note that the lack of any confirmations from the company working on it means everything should be taken with a grain of salt.
Other rumors about what players could see in the game supposedly code-named Project Americas include the idea that this time around, the story will be set sometime after 1980. It's also said there's a good chance that wherever this story takes players, it will have a single protagonist, someone named Ricardo. Both of those ideas could further fan the flames of Vice City making a return in the newest chapter. With leaks coming out more quickly now that the calendar has turned to 2021, it's possible Take-Two's website could mean an announcement is imminent. It could also mean the update site is a red herring.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is in early development.