GTA 5 Release Date: March 2013, Says One Analyst

There's no official news, but every tidbit that comes out about the Grand Theft Auto 5 release date gives gamers a little hope that Rockstar's next installment will be out soon. The latest Grand Theft Auto 5 release date speculation comes from Wedbush analyst Michael Patcher who says that the videogame should be out by March 2013. 

In an exclusive interview with NowGamer, Patcher is incredibly optimistic about the release timeframe from Grand Theft Auto 5 after Game Informer recently announced they demoed the game and that it would grace the December cover. 

"With GTA, I honestly think the Rockstar guys could bring it out before Christmas if they wanted to and they could announce next week that it's coming out December 9, and then the Game Informer cover would get a lot of publicity, but my guess is that it's coming out March. That's probably an accurate release date and that gives them four full months to promote it," said Patcher to NowGamer.

"Every GTA, except for one, has launched in October. I actually think the Rockstar guys would have preferred to launch [GTA 5] this October. I don't know that they are going to try and get in the way of BioShock Infinite, which is a February launch, Rockstar probably aren't even aware BioShock is coming out, nor do they care. Take Two is on the hook to deliver over a billion dollars in revenue," he continued.

"Their fiscal year, ends March 31, so they pretty much have to bring the game out by March 31," Patcher explained. "I would say a March launch is more likely than May and knowing the Rockstar guys, I wouldn't rule out a December [2012] launch. You just don't know with these guys, they could announce next week that GTA is coming out December 20, I think it would be stupid, but they could do it."

Keep in mind nothing official has been released by Rockstar, and like most of the information about Grand Theft Auto 5 outside of a few screenshots and one trailer, this is another educated guess. I wouldn't count on Grand Theft Auto 5 hitting the United States this holiday season, but an early 2013 release date is seeming the most likely, and isn't too far away - if we can all wait.