- Rumors confirmed: Setting in [Vice City](https://returntovice.com/en/) and protagonist couple with a playable female (Lucia).
- Rumors debunked: €150 price tag, map with South American countries, or three simultaneous protagonists.
- Rigorous treatment: Strict separation between early 2022 leaks and official 2026 announcements.
During the years prior to the first formal announcements of Grand Theft Auto VI, the internet was flooded with supposed leaks, forum rumors, and elaborate theories. With the game already in the pre-order phase and with multiple official showcases published, the time has come to audit which rumors turned out to be true and which were mere fabrications.
Verification Table: Rumor vs Official Reality
| Supposed rumor | Verified status | Reality confirmed by Rockstar Games |
|---|---|---|
| Return to Vice City | ✅ TRUE | Confirmed as the main city of the state of Leonida. |
| Latina female protagonist | ✅ TRUE | Lucia stars in the game alongside Jason. |
| $150 launch price | ❌ FALSE | The official price is €79.99 / $79.99 for the standard edition. |
| Trips to Colombia / South America | ❌ FALSE | All action takes place in Leonida (southern US). |
| Trio of protagonists like in GTA V | ❌ FALSE | The campaign is exclusively designed for two characters. |
| Initial launch on PC | ❌ FALSE | The game debuts exclusively for PS5 and Xbox Series X |
1. The myth of “Project Americas” and South America
For years, the theory strongly circulated that GTA VI would allow traveling between Vice City and various South American cities to carry out international drug trafficking missions.
The reality: Rockstar Games focused the entire geographic scale on deepening the ecological and urban richness of the fictional state of Leonida, discarding intercontinental jumps to prioritize a seamless map with no loading screens.
2. The €150 price hoax
One of the most viral rumors on social media claimed that, due to the record development budget, Take-Two would set the base price of GTA VI at 150 euros.
The reality: On June 25, 2026 the standard price of €79.99 for the base edition and €99.99 for the Ultimate edition was made official, in line with the major releases of the current generation.
3. The September 2022 technical leaks
In September 2022, a security incident exposed dozens of clips from early development phases (pre-alpha). Those videos confirmed early on the existence of Lucia and Jason and the Vice City environment, but contained placeholder interfaces and mechanics that were completely remade for the final 2026 version.
Conclusion
Following a launch of this caliber demands rigor: rumors should only be covered when there are verifiable indications, and should never be presented as accomplished facts until there is an official statement from Rockstar Games.
A recent case, analyzed step by step: the 2027 delay rumor.
How we classify every piece of data on this website
The reason we can audit rumors is that we label every piece of content from day one. These are the four tags you will see on the website:
- CONFIRMED — Data coming exclusively from Rockstar Games, Take-Two or official stores.
- REPORTED — Information published by journalists and media of proven reputation.
- RUMOR — Unverified leaks, forum comments, or unconfirmed patents.
- ANALYSIS — Deductions, technical breakdowns, and well-founded opinions from our editorial team.
The four questions we apply
Before publishing any leak, we run it through the same filter:
- Is there an identifiable source? An anonymous message on a forum doesn’t prove anything, no matter how detailed it is.
- Does that source have a verifiable track record? A leaker with documented previous correct predictions is not the same as an account created last week.
- Is it backed by contrasting media? Just because a media outlet covers a rumor doesn’t mean they confirm it. It’s a distinction that is constantly lost on social media.
- Does it contradict anything official recently? If it clashes with a statement from Rockstar or Take-Two, the burden of proof goes way up.
What we never do
- We do not distribute stolen material. We do not publish links to illegal source code downloads or files stolen from the developers.
- We do not invent dates or prices. If Rockstar has not announced the PC version, we say there is no official announcement, not an estimate disguised as a fact.
- We do not use misleading headlines. No artificial exclamation marks or promises of early access that don’t exist.
This criteria is what allows us to write the rest of the article: without prior labeling, auditing rumors retrospectively would be impossible.
- Rockstar Newswire Official Releases.
- Historical archive of editorial coverage by GTA 6 Countdown.
A recent case analyzed in detail: the 2027 delay rumor, born in an anonymous forum.