Rockstar has not publicly confirmed when development on GTA 6 began. The company has never issued a statement giving a start date, and no official timeline exists. What is known is that the game was announced via a Newswire post on February 4, 2022, which acknowledged that development was underway. That post did not specify how long work had been in progress.
Industry reports, including from Bloomberg and Kotaku, have suggested that early work started around 2014, with full production ramping up later. These are reports, not confirmations. Rockstar has not commented on those claims. The release date history is also separate from development start: the game was first delayed from 2025 to May 26, 2026, then to November 19, 2026. None of those delays included a statement about when development began.
For practical purposes, the exact start date has no bearing on the game’s upcoming launch. If you are tracking progress, the most reliable milestones are the official trailers and the trailers page. Rockstar has not announced any further development updates before release, so any specific start date you see online is likely speculative.