Grand Theft Auto V delayed till September

Rockstar has announced on its website that the release date for the next game in the GTA franchise—Grand Theft Auto V—has been delayed. The new release date, according to the company, is September 17, 2013. This is a four month delay from the originally planned release date.

The company says that the delay was required as, “GTAV is a massively ambitious and complex game and it simply needs a little more polish to be of the standard we and, more importantly, you require.” Rockstar has also announced that it will be showing the box art for GTAV a bit later.

The beautiful vista in Los Santos

It was recently revealed through a listing on Amazon France that the open-world game will be getting a PC version, despite Rockstar’s refusal to mention details about anything but the console versions of the game.

While you can pre-order the game for EUR 49.99 (approx. Rs 3,600), there still isn’t a date attached to the PC release. The website simply says “Soon” for the expected launch date. Presumably, the PC version of the game will come with enhancements, especially on the graphics side of things. The PC version may feature more detail, high-resolution textures and a greater view distance.

Back in December, Rockstar had released some new screenshots of GTA V that showed the inclusion of underwater areas. The screenshots show some of the regular stuff, like cityscapes and cars, but the more interesting things shown include a submarine and a shark. Rockstar had previously mentioned that the game would have more to explore underwater, and it seems to be delivering on this promise with the inclusion of deadly sharks and submarines. The screenshots also show great attention to detail when it comes to the graphical fidelity of the game, like being able to make out the pilots in planes. The game also seems to feature a blimp, which could be an interesting setting for a mission, or even an aerial chase sequence.

In November, a ton of information about GTAV was revealed. Rockstar is now promising greater mission variety in the game. One of the biggest complaints faced by GTA IV was that most of the missions consisted of driving to a location, killing your target, driving back to a safe location and repeat. According to Rockstar, some missions in GTAV will feature one playable character, while others will feature two or three. The game will also follow an Ocean’s Eleven-type progression, where a lot of missions will be preparing for and pulling off complex heists.

The game will also feature a new inventory system. At the moment, each character has his own inventory and money, but the developers have explained that this is something the company normally addresses later in the development cycle, so the system could see a change before the game’s release.

When asked if features from the previous games will be making a comeback, such as underwater areas, the developers said that GTAV will have a lot of underwater areas to explore. The developers have also mentioned that none of the characters from GTA III, Vice City or San Andreas will be making an appearance, but characters from GTA IV might visit the city.