GTA 5 PC , PS4, Xbox One Release Date: Grand Theft Auto V PC Could Be Released Later This Year; Next-Generation Versions Highly Unlikely

By John Santisteban

May 09, 2014 09:29 PM EDT

A huge number of gamers are still hoping that Rockstar Games will eventually decide to release Grand Theft Auto V for PC, PS4, and Xbox One this year.

The petition launched by PC games, which has now gathered more than 700,000 signatures as of last week, could finally be a success as rumors indicated that GTA 5 PC will be released on the market later this year.

Michael Pachter, Wedbush Securities managing director for equity research, told Gaming Bolt that he expects Rockstar Games to release the game for PC, saying that releasing the game on PC will be easier than releasing the game for next-generation consoles.

"Well, the PC version, you know, I think is a very easy port," Pachter said. "So I am certain that's coming out, and I would bet anything that it comes out this year."

Pachter then expressed doubt about the possibility of the game being released for next-gen consoles later this year.

"The Xbox One and PS4 versions, not so fast, because to port from 360 to One is probably very hard," he said. "If you look at Titanfall, for example, it went the other way. So, I don't even know if it's possible, or feasible."

Pachter pointed out that there are ways to port the game from PS3 to PS4 and Xbox 360 to One, but he insisted that it could take a long time, considering the fact that most of Rockstar Games developers are busy working on GTA Online at this point.

"I think they might need to redo the code, which might take them a long time, a year or more, and that's if they spend their time and attention on that, and from everything I can tell, Rockstar Games is busy working on GTA Online," Pachter said. "So I would say PC version this year, most likely. Xbox One and PS4, this year? Probably not."

Recent rumors also indicated that Rockstar Games is planning to unveil the new versions of the GTA 5 game at this year's E3, but most analyst are not convinced, considering the fact the Rockstar Games did not announce big games at the event over the past several years.