The countdown is on. If all goes in accordance with plan (and that’s an enormous if), we’ll be taking part in Grand Theft Auto 6 in simply round eight months. That appears like a really very long time after I write it out, however it’s nothing in comparison with how lengthy the wait has been within the grand scheme of issues. Grand Theft Auto 5 launched on Sept. 17, 2013. Gamers have been messing round within the PS3-era crime recreation for 12 entire years now.
That’s plenty of time, however have you ever ever stopped to actually think about simply how lengthy it’s? 12 years is a prolonged sufficient span that you may categorize it as an period. Political empires have turned over a number of instances in that span. Bands that debuted within the early 2010s at the moment are off on nostalgic tenth anniversary album excursions. Hell, there are entire center schoolers on the market who haven’t identified a life with out Grand Theft Auto 5. You’ll be able to actually start to empathize with longtime followers, now middle-aged and going grey, who’re experiencing existential decay at this level.
So, how a lot has the world actually modified since then? Right here’s a brief record of what we’ve gotten earlier than Grand Theft Auto 6.
We acquired two generations of online game consoles earlier than GTA 6
Grand Theft Auto 5 is so outdated that neither the PlayStation 4 nor the Xbox 360 was out on the time it launched. Each of these machines got here out in November 2013, simply two months after the sport’s September date. We’ve moved on to the PS5 and Xbox Sequence X since then. We additionally acquired two Nintendo console launches, 5 Meta Quest VR headsets, and numerous handheld PCs. At this fee, there’s even an outdoor probability that Xbox Sport Cross collapses earlier than GTA 6 could be born, robbing us of an opportunity for Rockstar so as to add it to the service after which rapidly pull it a month or two later, because it loves doing.
We acquired a Digital Boy comeback earlier than GTA 6
I’m unsure if hell correctly froze over between GTA video games, however it’s actually getting extra temperate down there nowadays. That’s thanks partly to the truth that Nintendo just lately revealed plans to convey Digital Boy video games to Swap On-line, even making a practical replica of the tabletop headset that can be utilized to play these video games. What as soon as would have been an April Fools’ joke has turn into a actuality earlier than GTA 6 may materialize on this world.
We acquired 4 American presidential phrases earlier than GTA 6
If console generations don’t imply a lot to you, this may put it into perspective: The USA has had three totally different presidents throughout 4 phrases within the hole between Grand Theft Auto video games. GTA 5 dropped proper close to the start of President Barack Obama’s first time period, and we went by a full spherical of Trump and Biden phrases with radio silence. GTA 6 is prone to launch in the course of Trump’s second time period, and the person might be practically 80 years outdated if the present Could launch date stands. Bonus truth: Trump was nonetheless a actuality TV present host when GTA5 got here out.
We misplaced Vine, acquired after which misplaced Byte, and acquired TikTok earlier than GTA 6
Social media is a fickle factor, and you may see that in case you chart the apps that got here and went over the past 12 years. First there was Vine, which launched the identical yr as GTA5. The short-form video app would attain peak success in mid 2010s earlier than getting shut down in 2017. A successor known as Byte launched in 2020, merged into the Conflict app, acquired renamed as Huddles, and eventually acquired shut down in 2023. TikTok, then again, has lived its whole life ready for GTA 6, because the app was first launched in 2016.
Oh, we acquired and misplaced Quibi earlier than GTA 6 too
Proper. Anyway.
We acquired eight Taylor Swift albums (and 4 re-recorded albums) earlier than GTA 6
Whereas Taylor Swift’s profession solely kicked off a few years after San Andreas launched, you possibly can actually really feel the anticipate GTA 6 in her profession trajectory over the past 12 years. When GTA5 launched, we had been solely a yr out from Purple. 1989, the album that began her true ascent to superstardom, wouldn’t come till 2014. Since then, she’s launched a number of hit data, had two “flop” durations, and totally rerecorded 4 albums, together with 1989. I imply, come on, we acquired Taylor Swift singing a track about Grand Theft Auto earlier than GTA 6!
We additionally acquired Taylor Swift singing about Travis Kelce’s dong earlier than GTA 6
New heights of manhood, I ain’t gotta knock on wooden.
We acquired a ‘lemonade that kills you’ earlier than GTA 6
I simply need to level out that Panera did make its Charged Lemonade between GTA video games. You already know, the extremely caffeinated beverage that was named in a number of lawsuits linking it to wrongful deaths? This isn’t an unbelievable marker of time or something. I simply need the report to indicate that we did certainly get this earlier than GTA 6.
We acquired the whole John Wick collection earlier than GTA 6
Whole media establishments have risen prior to now 12 years, and you will discover a simple instance of that in John Wick. The primary movie within the Keanu Reeves-led collection was launched in 2014. Since then, we have now gotten 4 mainline movies, a by-product film, a TV present, a techniques online game (which has since been delisted), a VR expertise, a comic book ebook miniseries, a documentary in regards to the collection that was filmed over a decade, and, after all, a Fortnite crossover. In the meantime, Keanu Reeves has not aged a day in that point. Bastard.
We acquired sequels to Good Burger, Blissful Gilmore, Prime Gun, Spinal Faucet, Invoice and Ted, Area Jam, The Matrix, and Beverly Hills Cop earlier than GTA 6
Whereas 12 years is a really lengthy wait between video games, it’s removed from the longest hole between sequels. In actual fact, loads of movie franchises acquired sequels prior to now 12 years that make the YouTube chat complainers look impatient. Do you know that Netflix’s Blissful Gilmore 2 was launched 29 years after the unique movie? Or that there have been 36 years between Prime Gun and Prime Gun: Maverick? Go inform a Miami Vice fan how lengthy you’ve waited to return to Vice Metropolis and they’re going to put you in a Vice Grip.
Okay, the wait may have been worse, I suppose.
Different issues we acquired earlier than GTA 6
- We acquired Hole Knight, a protracted Silksong hype cycle, and Silksong itself earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired 19 Name of Obligation video games, excluding remasters, earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired Chris Pratt as Mario earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired Bowsette earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired a pandemic earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired three McRib returns earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired 28 motion pictures that includes The Rock, together with San Andreas, earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired a SouljaBoy recreation console earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired regardless of the hell occurred with NFTs earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired CM Punk quitting WWE and returning a decade later earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired Till Daybreak after which a remake of Till Daybreak earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired 30 MCU motion pictures earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired 46 seasons of Chopped earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired 534 One Piece episodes earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired White Claw earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired Homestuck’s conclusion and, like, three rivals earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired a Sonic the Hedgehog redemption arc earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired Derek Carr’s whole NFL profession earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired Martin Luther King Jr. in Fortnite earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired Fortnite, interval, earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired a complete Star Wars trilogy earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired Child Yoda earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired “Mayochup” earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired an Oasis reunion earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired this meme and ran it into the bottom earlier than GTA 6.
- We acquired a stay delivery on Twitch earlier than GTA 6.
- We did not get Bully 2 earlier than GTA 6. Sorry.
