GTA 6 Reportedly Faced 36 Console Certification Failures — Not Because Rockstar Wanted “Perfection”

New reports suggest that GTA 6’s delay wasn’t caused by Rockstar trying to polish the game to perfection, but instead by something far more unusual — console certification failures.

According to insider claims, the game allegedly failed console certification 36 times in a row, which is extremely rare even for major AAA releases.

For context, even the most troubled launches typically fail certification no more than five times before getting approved. GTA 6 reportedly went beyond thirty.

Insider: The Real Issue Is Rockstar’s New Anti-Cheat System

The information comes from an industry insider known as Hall, who claims to have spoken with Rockstar employees.

According to the insider, the main problem isn’t performance, stability, or missing content — it’s a brand-new anti-cheat system being developed internally by Rockstar.

Rockstar allegedly wants to build its own protection technology because it doesn’t want to rely on third-party anti-cheat providers. After years of dealing with cheating in GTA Online, the studio reportedly sees this as a long-term investment.

The goal is to solve the cheating problem “once and for all” — or at least reduce it drastically.

Built for the Future — Including PC

Another important detail is that this anti-cheat system is supposedly being designed with the future in mind.

Rockstar reportedly wants it to be portable, so it can later be brought over to the PC version without repeating the same problems GTA 5 Online faced after launch.

In other words, this isn’t just a GTA 6 fix — it’s meant to become Rockstar’s foundation for protecting online gameplay going forward.

The Certification Problem: Anti-Cheat Runs Even When the Game Isn’t Active

Here’s where things get complicated.

The insider claims the anti-cheat remains active even when the game is:

• minimized in the background;
• paused;
• running in console “Quick Resume” mode.

That behavior allegedly violates platform rules for both Sony and Microsoft.

According to certification guidelines, if a game is not actively running in the foreground, it should not continue scanning or performing checks in the background.

The result? The build reportedly gets close to passing certification — then fails at the final stage due to the anti-cheat behavior.

GTA 6 Itself Is Reportedly Running Fine

Interestingly, the insider claims that the game itself is performing well:

• stable FPS;
• solid performance;
• no major stability issues.

So the delay isn’t about Rockstar struggling to make GTA 6 playable — it’s about getting the anti-cheat system to meet strict console policies.

Rockstar Could Disable It — But That Would Make GTA Online a “Cheater Paradise”

Technically, Rockstar could disable the anti-cheat, pass certification, and release the game faster.

But according to the insider, that would turn GTA 6 Online into a paradise for cheaters from day one, potentially damaging the experience immediately at launch.

That’s why the company is reportedly refusing to compromise.

Sony and Microsoft Are Allegedly Working Directly With Rockstar

The report claims that Sony and Microsoft engineers are now working directly with Rockstar to find a solution.

However, certification rules are the same for everyone — even for a project as massive as GTA 6.

That’s reportedly why the release is taking so long, and why GTA 6 may already be shaping up to become Rockstar’s most complicated launch ever.

As always, Rockstar has not officially confirmed any of this information, so it should be treated as unverified insider reporting until further updates.