GTA 5 PC Release Date Delayed Again

The Grand Theft Auto V PC release date has been delayed for a third time, pushing the launch day back to April 14.

The game was initially scheduled to ship in "Fall 2014," and then in late January, and then on March 24. This third delay pushes the release back by three more weeks.

"Our apologies to PC gamers worldwide who have been counting down the days until the launch of the game, but a bit more time is needed to ensure that the game is as polished as possible," Rockstar said.

As a gesture of goodwill, players who have pre-ordered the game will receive an additional $200,000 in-game cash bonus to use in GTA Online.

"Our apologies to PC gamers worldwide who have been counting down the days until the launch of the game"

Rockstar statement

This brings the total bonus for pre-orders to $1.5 million ($500,000 for Grand Theft Auto V, $500,000 for Grand Theft Auto Online, and $300,000 bonus for pre-ordering before March 9).

Rockstar also revealed that Heists, the new gameplay mode for GTA Online, is scheduled to launch on March 10. The Heists mode tasks a team of up to four players to pull off a spate of raids and robberies across Los Santos and Blaine County.

These heists are thought to be complex, multi-part missions, with each player taking on a different role. New vehicles, weapons, clothing, and sundry items will arrive with the Heists update.

Below is a collection of new images released by Rockstar which offers a glimpse into Heists mode.

Gallery

"Over the next couple of weeks, we will have more information about the launch of Heists and about other new features that we will release with it," Rockstar added.

GTA V for PC will also feature a new editing tool called the Rockstar Editor. This will give players a "full suite" of tools that they can use to create and publishing clips to the Rockstar Social Club and YouTube.

Like with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 editions of GTA V, which arrived in November 2014, the PC version will support up to 30 players for GTA Online.

Rockstar has also revealed the recommended and minimum PC specs required to play the open-world crime opus.

At minimum, players will need 4 GB of memory and a quad core processor that runs at least at 2.5GHz. Rockstar suggests the ideal experience will require 8 GB of memory and an Intel core i5 chip (or equivalent), capable of running at 3.2GHz. The install size is 65 GB.

Rockstar also says the Windows edition supports up to 4K resolution, 60fps, and triple monitor configurations, as well as Nvidia 3D Vision.

A breakdown of PC specs, written by Rockstar, is listed below.

GTA V Minimum PC Specifications:

• OS: Windows 8.1 64 Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit, Windows 7 64 Bit Service Pack 1, Windows Vista 64 Bit Service Pack 2* (*NVIDIA video card recommended if running Vista OS)
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs) / AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core Processor (4 CPUs) @ 2.5GHz
• Memory: 4GB
• Video Card: NVIDIA 9800 GT 1GB / AMD HD 4870 1GB (DX 10, 10.1, 11)
• Sound Card: 100% DirectX 10 compatible
• HDD Space: 65GB
• DVD Drive

GTA 5 Recommended PC Specifications:

• OS: Windows 8.1 64 Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit, Windows 7 64 Bit Service Pack 1
• Processor: Intel Core i5 3470 @ 3.2GHZ (4 CPUs) / AMD X8 FX-8350 @ 4GHZ (8 CPUs)
• Memory: 8GB
• Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 660 2GB / AMD HD7870 2GB
• Sound Card: 100% DirectX 10 compatible
• HDD Space: 65GB
• DVD Drive

GTA V was originally released in September 2013 for last-generation consoles, shipping 45 million copies. The game launched for current-generation machines in November, and sales are going strong, as GTA V was the second best-selling game of November 2014 in the US.