GTA 5 delay: Rockstar dismisses "conspiracy theories"

Grand Theft Auto 5's delay has brought on an epidemic of tinfoil hats, and Rockstar isn't amused.

In a comment added to its original delay announcement, the publisher has called on its clamouring community to calm the f**k down.

"We understand many of you guys are disappointed with this news," the post said.

"Unfortunately sometimes such delays are necessary in all forms of entertainment, and especially in the case of a game experience as massive and complex as GTAV. However this does not give you free reign to be abusive in comments.

"Also: To those of you saying or seeing various conspiracy theories about there being some other ulterior motive for this delay, rest assured that they’re all nonsense – literally the only reason we’ve delayed the release is because we want the game to be as good as it needs to be."

The publisher also promised to release boxart as soon as possible.

Grand Theft Auto 5's release date was pushed back from an expected northern summer release to September 17, on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Although if any franchise can take a delay in its stride its Grand Theft Auto, the impending release of next-generation hardware has inspired any number of interesting theories about the new date.