If you weren’t glued to a forum in 2012 and 2013, let me paint you a picture. The hype for this game wasn’t just a whisper; it was a screaming volcano of anticipation that made people do weird things. Grown adults were calculating the exact number of seconds until launch like they were planning a moon landing. One guy on Reddit famously calculated that waiting for GTA 5 was approximately the same emotional strain as climbing Mount Everest without oxygen—I’m pretty sure he was serious.
Rockstar Games, those glorious trolls, didn’t just drop a date casually. They played it cool. First came a teaser trailer in 2011, then a first official trailer in November 2012 that broke the internet’s back. The release date was initially announced as spring 2013, which sounds nice, like cherry blossoms and rain. But then—dramatic pause—they delayed it. A "spring" release turned into a "September 17th" release, and the collective groan from gamers was loud enough to register on seismographs.
The "Why September 17th?" Mystery
So why that specific Tuesday in September? It wasn't chosen by a magic 8-ball. Rockstar picked a date that avoided blockbuster movie season and the fall video game avalanche. But here’s the surprising fact: September 17, 2013, was also the release date for two other massive games—FIFA 14 and Batman: Arkham Origins dropped the same month. Rockstar didn’t care. They knew they were the Godzilla of that launch window, and everyone else was just a tiny helicopter flying too close.
Another bizarre trivia: the game actually leaked two weeks early. Someone in the supply chain got a copy, and suddenly the internet was flooded with shaky footage of Trevor running over a deer. Rockstar’s response? A polite but firm legal threat that probably caused the leaker’s entire bloodline to sweat. Meanwhile, fans were refreshing store pages like they were checking lottery numbers.
Grand Theft Auto V 'released early' by Amazon up to FOUR days before
