News

GTA 6: Release Date Rumors, Gameplay Leaks, & More

Here’s everything we know so far about Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto VI.

Published

3 years ago

November 9, 2023

gta 6 release date rumors gameplay leaks and more

Did you know that the trailer for the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 5 was released in 2011? It’s hard to believe that it’s been 12 years since we first met the protagonists of what would quickly become Rockstar’s most successful release ever.

After selling over 135 million copies, GTA fans are now eagerly anticipating the sixth installment of the series. But how long will we have to wait, and what do we know about the game so far?

The Release Date

Yesterday, Rockstar Games announced that it would reveal the trailer for GTA 6 in early December. This is the first official announcement from the company since admitting that the game “exists” back in February 2022.

Meanwhile, internet sleuths have noted that Take-Two Interactive’s CEO Strauss Zelnick (GTA’s publisher) has stated that his company would see a “significant (financial) inflection point” in 2025. Could that mean the release of a massive title like GTA VI? We simply don’t know.

We do know that a 2024 release is likely off the cards, however, thanks to a Bloomberg report this summer that revealed “current and former Rockstar staff” expect GTA 6 to be at least 2 years away. With that being said, Microsoft has also confused matters, revealing that “the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI is expected to be released in 2024”.

Gameplay Leaks

Despite the lack of a firm release date, we do have plenty of information on the basics of the game, thanks to several leaks that have since been scrubbed from the internet. The biggest news is that, for the first time ever, one of GTA’s protagonists will be a woman named Lucia. In addition, the series may make a return to the Miami-vice-esq “Vice City”, and most buildings will be enterable, with an even greater focus on heists and robberies.

Also Read: Top 10 Best Video Games Set In The Middle East

Of course, all of the rumors and release dates are subject to change, and the game is definitely a long way away from being playable. However, at least we know that Rockstar is building the game, and we can likely expect another massive hit when it’s released.

Related Topics:Gaming GTA 6 Rockstar Games

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Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 days ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.