They likely started working on GTA 6 around 2018 , with full, large-scale development kicking in “in earnest” around 2020.

Core timeline

  • A former Rockstar artist, David O’Reilly, stated he worked on GTA 6 from 2018 to 2023 , right after Red Dead Redemption 2 wrapped, which strongly suggests active development was underway by 2018.
  • Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has said that GTA 6 began development “in earnest ” in 2020 , implying that pre-production and early work were already happening before that.

How to interpret “when did they start”

  • If you mean first serious planning / pre-production : there are signs that concept and pre-production work began shortly after Red Dead Redemption 2 shipped in 2018.
  • If you mean full-scale, main production : the publisher’s own wording points to 2020 as the year GTA 6 truly entered major active development with a full team.

So in fan shorthand, people often say: GTA 6 has been in development since 2018, with full production starting in 2020.