For those of us waiting for Grand Theft Auto 5 to come out, the last year has been tough. Ever since a trailer last November, Rockstar has given the public only a handful of screenshots and cryptic comments to go on. But a look at what retailers are doing shows us that the game could be released in early 2013.
The latest release date comes via Examiner, which reports the Liverpool-based retailer Littlewoods.com has changed their release date. The retailer prices the game at £65 and states that it will ship on May 31, 2013.
Major U.K. retailer Tesco also recently changed their Grand Theft Auto 5 release date, except to March 29, 2013, from December 28, 2012.
A post from a user on GTAForums also points at a March 29, 2013 release date, although there is no way to verify his or her validity.
"Where I work (A games retailer, will not disclose names.) the P.O.S system has updated the release date of GTA:V to 29th March 2013 the same as a U.K retailer overseas (All over google.). Now I'm not saying this is the legitimate release date but this could possibly be an insight into when we may see this game up on the shelves," wrote Rapter on GTAForums.
A March 29, 2013 release date may be a retailer's crutch date at this point in time, since that is the last Friday before the end of the first quarter of 2013. The March 29 date may simply be a placeholder.
Commenter Osullivan70 also recently pointed out to us that March 29 lands on a Friday, and that major video game releases usually take place on a Tuesday here in the United States, so if anything, it might be March 26.
Either way, it's clear that Grand Theft Auto 5 won't be coming in 2012, and likely not until a few months in 2013 have passed.
A video on Youtube recently caught fire because it supposedly showed some leaked gameplay footage of Grand Theft Auto 5, and had some fans ecstatic. But some further research shows that the same user has uploaded fake videos not only of Grand Theft Auto 5, but also of the iPhone 5. So sorry folks, there's a good chance that this video isn't real.
Rockstar has yet to comment on these details, but you can be sure that we'll hang on their every word when they finally do.