Why I Think GTA 6 Could Score Higher Than People Expect

Insider Gaming recently sparked an interesting discussion about where GTA 6 could land critically. I disagree with the idea of setting expectations too low, but not because I believe Rockstar Games is incapable of making a bad game.

Instead, I think Rockstar's history gives us something much more useful than hype when trying to predict how GTA 6 could be received.

We have evidence.

And if GTA 6 delivers anywhere close to the standard Rockstar has established with its major original releases, a score in the mid to high 90s would not be unusual for this company.

It would actually fit the pattern.

Rockstar's Track Record Is Ridiculous

Forget GTA 6 for a moment.

Look at the numbers.

Grand Theft Auto IV has a 98 Metascore on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Grand Theft Auto V earned a 97 on PS3 and Xbox 360. Its PS4 and Xbox One versions also earned 97s.

Red Dead Redemption 2 earned a 97 on both PS4 and Xbox One.

The original Red Dead Redemption earned a 95.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas earned a 95 on PS2.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City earned a 95.

Grand Theft Auto III earned a 97.

Read that list again.

Rockstar did not stumble into one universally acclaimed game. It repeatedly released some of the highest scoring games of their respective generations.

Even Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has pointed to this history, saying Rockstar's scores are typically in the mid 90s and sometimes high 90s, attributing that record to the studio's focus on quality.

That does not guarantee GTA 6 a 95, 97 or 98.

Past performance is not a review score.

But if we are discussing what GTA 6 might score before anybody has reviewed the finished game, Rockstar's previous work is one of the few pieces of hard evidence available.

GTA Has Done This Before

What makes GTA 6 especially interesting is that this level of critical success is not unusual for Grand Theft Auto.

GTA III: 97.

Vice City: 95.

San Andreas: 95.

GTA IV: 98.

GTA V: 97.

That is a crazy run.

Insider Gaming itself recently pointed to essentially the same numbers when discussing the biggest Game of the Year contenders of 2026. In that piece, the writer said they could not see anything getting past GTA 6 for Game of the Year and specifically cited Rockstar's historical Metacritic scores as part of the reasoning.

That is why I have a hard time betting on GTA 6 suddenly landing dramatically below the standard of the modern series without seeing evidence that something has gone wrong.

Could it happen? Of course but history currently points in the opposite direction.

Red Dead Redemption 2 Might Be the Best Comparison

I think Red Dead Redemption 2 matters just as much to this discussion as GTA V.

Rockstar released RDR2 in 2018, five years after GTA V.

It received a 97 Metascore on both PS4 and Xbox One.

And look at what that game attempted.

Its world reacted to the player in ridiculous ways.

NPCs remembered interactions.

Arthur Morgan's appearance changed.

Animals had detailed ecosystems.

Weather, mud, clothing, horses, camps and towns reacted dynamically.

The game was criticized for some things too. Its controls could feel heavy. Some missions were extremely restrictive. Its dedication to realism occasionally slowed the experience down.

Yet critics overwhelmingly considered the complete package exceptional.

Now Rockstar has had another eight years since RDR2 to build GTA 6.

That does not automatically mean GTA 6 is better.

Development does not work like a Madden rating where another year adds points to every category but it does show what Rockstar was technically capable of doing on PS4 and Xbox One hardware in 2018.

GTA 6 is being built for significantly newer machines.

That is why my expectations are high.

The Hype Isn't Normal Anymore

There is hype, and then there is GTA 6.

Take Two has already described GTA 6's preorder performance as exceptional. CEO Strauss Zelnick went even further during the company's August earnings call, saying Take Two had never seen anything like the preorder numbers either internally or across the industry.

Importantly, Zelnick also cautioned against celebrating early because preorders can be canceled and the game had not actually sold a unit yet at that point.

That is the right way to look at it.

Preorders do not prove GTA 6 is good.

Sales do not prove a game deserves a 10.

But they demonstrate the extraordinary level of interest surrounding this release.

Rockstar has officially described GTA 6 as the biggest and most immersive evolution of Grand Theft Auto yet. The game follows Jason and Lucia across Leonida, with Vice City at the center of a much larger setting. Rockstar's August extended presentation was captured entirely from in game footage running on PS5.

We will have to judge those claims after release.

What cannot really be debated is the scale of expectation surrounding them.

Hype Could Actually Work Against GTA 6

Here is where I think the argument gets more interesting.

The hype surrounding GTA 6 could hurt its reviews.

A game can be incredible and still disappoint someone who expected it to reinvent video games.

GTA 6 is not competing exclusively against other 2026 releases.

It is competing against more than a decade of imagination.

People have spent years constructing their personal version of GTA 6. Some expect every building to be enterable. Some expect the most advanced NPC simulation ever created. Some expect GTA Online, Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA V combined into one game with another ten years of ideas on top.

Rockstar never promised all of that.

If GTA 6 is merely an excellent open world crime game instead of the second coming of electricity, some people will call it disappointing.

That is the danger of hype at this level.

I Also Expect Some Contrarian Scores

There is another part of this conversation that gaming media will eventually have to deal with.

GTA 6 will probably receive at least a few unusually low scores.

That alone would not mean those reviews are dishonest.

Reviews are subjective.

A critic could legitimately dislike GTA 6's mission structure, writing, controls, pacing, humor, violence, open world design or any number of other things. Rockstar's reputation does not invalidate criticism, and nobody should be required to give GTA 6 a 9 or 10 simply because everybody else loves it.

But I would also be naive to pretend attention does not exist online.

GTA 6 may become one of the most heavily discussed entertainment releases in years. In that environment, an extreme opinion can generate enormous engagement.

Imagine review day.

Dozens of outlets give GTA 6 a 9 or 10.

Then somebody gives it a 6.

Which review do you think everyone is going to talk about?

The 6.

People will screenshot it. Fans will argue about it. Creators will make videos about it. Social media accounts will repost it. The publication behind it could receive more attention from that single review than from months of ordinary coverage.

That does not mean every low score should be accused of chasing clicks.

We should judge the reasoning, not just the number.

If someone gives GTA 6 a 6 and writes a thoughtful review explaining serious problems they experienced, that opinion deserves to exist.

If the argument underneath the score is weak, inconsistent or seems designed primarily to provoke people, readers are allowed to question that too.

The important thing is not treating disagreement itself as proof of bad faith.

Rockstar Isn't Immune to Failure

There is also evidence on the other side.

Rockstar's name does not magically produce a 95.

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition was received poorly, with Metacritic scores ranging from the mid 40s to mid 50s depending on platform. The current generation rereleases of GTA V also scored considerably lower than the original release.

There is important context there.

The Definitive Edition was primarily developed by Grove Street Games rather than the core Rockstar teams responsible for GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. A rerelease also faces a different critical standard from a brand new flagship Rockstar production.

Still, those games prove the logo on the box cannot be the argument.

GTA 6 has to earn its score.

My Prediction Isn't a Guaranteed 10

I am not saying GTA 6 deserves a 10/10.

I have not played it.

Neither has the general public.

What I am saying is that if we are going to speculate about review scores before release, the historical evidence deserves more weight than speculation.

Rockstar's last two major original releases both reached 97 on Metacritic.

GTA IV reached 98.

San Andreas reached 95.

Vice City reached 95.

GTA III reached 97.

Meanwhile, GTA 6 is already generating preorder demand that Take Two says it has never previously experienced.

None of that proves the game will be great.

It does make betting against Rockstar's critical track record difficult.

My expectation right now is that GTA 6 lands somewhere in the 95 to 98 range on Metacritic, assuming the finished game delivers on what Rockstar has shown and launches without major technical or design problems.

I could be wrong.

Insider Gaming could be right.

GTA 6 could launch and reveal problems none of us can see from trailers.

That is why reviews exist.

But Rockstar has earned the benefit of looking at its history before assuming this will be the game that suddenly breaks one of the strongest critical streaks in the industry.

GTA 6 Will Be Reviewed Under a Microscope

There may never have been a harder Rockstar game to review.

Some people will enter GTA 6 wanting it to be the greatest game ever created.

Others will desperately want to be the person who says it isn't.

Neither approach is particularly useful.

The game should be judged for what is actually on the screen.

Does Leonida feel alive?

Are Jason and Lucia compelling protagonists?

Is the story worth following?

Has Rockstar meaningfully evolved its mission design?

Does driving feel good?

Is combat improved?

Does the world reward exploration?

Does the game run properly?

And most importantly, is it fun?

Those questions should determine GTA 6's score.

Not hype.

Not Rockstar's reputation.

Not the desire to protect a Metacritic average.

And definitely not the opportunity to become the one review everybody argues about on X for three days.

Rockstar's history gives GTA 6 an extraordinarily high bar.

Now Rockstar has to clear it.

GTA 6 launches November 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

We'll find out soon enough whether GTA 6 becomes Rockstar's next 97.

Or whether the most anticipated game in years finally proves that even Rockstar can feel the weight of impossible expectations.