News · Analysis A New Red Dead in 2027? What Citi and Rockstar Actually Said In mid-October 2026, the bank Citi told its clients that a new Red Dead game in 2027 or 2028 "may not be unreasonable". The note builds on a Bloomberg feature about Grand Theft Auto VI, published on October 14. Rockstar has not announced a new Red Dead. Here is what each side actually said, and which parts are fact, estimate or speculation. October 22, 2026 By Joseph Lambert 4 min read What Citi said Citi's note was reported by GameSpot on October 16, 2026, and by RDR2.org on October 18. The bank wrote that a new Red Dead release in 2027 or 2028 "may not be unreasonable". It kept its Buy rating on Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar's parent company, with a price target of $270 per share. The reasoning is based on accounting. Take-Two carries about $2.4 billion in capitalized software development costs on its books. These are development costs recorded as an asset until a game is released. Citi's view is that if GTA VI cost less than $1.5 billion, roughly $900 million of that total is funding other projects. That $900 million is a subtraction made by Citi, not a figure published by Take-Two. What Rockstar told Bloomberg On October 14, 2026, Bloomberg published a feature by Jason Schreier on the making of GTA VI. Jennifer Kolbe, Rockstar's head of publishing, said the game did not cost more than the roughly $1.5 billion spent on Dubai's Burj Khalifa. Rockstar did not give an exact budget. According to Bloomberg, Rockstar had 2,441 employees in 2018, the year Red Dead Redemption 2 was released. It now has 4,711, spread across 12 offices. Phil Hooker and Aaron Garbut, who lead development at Rockstar, talked about the studio's next project. Hooker said: "The engine, the tools and the team we've built during this project will allow us to do things more quickly." Garbut said: "We foundationally changed a lot of stuff on this project. But now it's done, and we're not going to rip it apart." Video Games Chronicle summed this up as Rockstar's next game not taking another eight years to make. Neither developer named that next game. What it does not say Confirmed: Rockstar has not announced a new Red Dead game. No Rockstar or Take-Two statement mentions one. Confirmed: Rockstar says GTA VI cost less than about $1.5 billion, without giving a number. Estimate: the $900 million left for other projects is Citi's calculation. It says nothing about which games that money funds. Speculation: a new Red Dead in 2027 or 2028. Citi presents it as plausible, not as information about a project. GameSpot's Eddie Makuch wrote that the timeline is not realistic. His article lists Rockstar's release history: Red Dead Redemption in 2010, GTA V in 2013, Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018 and GTA VI in 2026. As RDR2.org noted, the gaps between those games grew from three years to five, then eight. GameSpot also points out that Rockstar's studios now work together on one game before moving to the next, and that GTA VI will need years of post-launch support, including its online mode. According to Take-Two, Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold more than 87 million units. For the longer background, read whether RDR3 is in development and what is known about an RDR3 release date. Next dates to watch November 9, 2026: Take-Two reports its results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2027, which ended on September 30, after the market close. The call starts at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. November 19, 2026: Grand Theft Auto VI launches on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Rockstar announces its games on the Rockstar Newswire. Read how to spot a real RDR3 announcement before trusting the next report.
