Key speculation.

Grand Theft Auto fans are known for a love of speculation and information sleuthing at this point, and this certainly hasn't changed since Rockstar released the extended gameplay preview for Grand Theft Auto 6. The community's current fixation? Whether or not Key West will be in the game.

For months, the most eager among the Grand Theft Auto community have been piecing together whatever clues they can as to what the GTA 6 map looks like. Trailers and leaks in combination have allowed fans to draft a rough idea of what we'll be able to explore come November. However, Key West (or Rockstar's own comedic twist on it) has so far remained unseen.

For those unaware, Key West is the USA's southernmost city, located right on the western tip of a chain of islands known as the Florida Keys. It's a famous spot and a popular tourist destination, leading many to speculate as to how it'll appear in Rockstar's take of the Florida coast.

Questions about Key West's inclusion in GTA 6 have circulated for a while, but the conversation has reignited with the appearance of a map leak which appears to show an early beta version of GTA 6's map. This leak is separate from the CyberLeek posts earlier this summer, which notably did not feature Key West at all. As such, the running theory is that Key West might have been planned but removed later in development.

"I don't see why they'd work so hard doing all the keys and leave out the most important one Key West," wrote Reddit user TheHulk305. "It doesn’t seem like a Rockstar thing to do, especially since we even got the Jersey side of New York in GTA 4." Others speculated that Key West might have been merged with other parts of the Florida Keys. All of this is of course speculation, based upon a map leak which itself could be false.

It'sworth noting, too, that Grand Theft Auto games - while intensely researched and based on real-world locations - are not meant to be one-to-one recreations. Also, just because a leak doesn't show a location doesn't mean it's missing: it could be alluded to in a nearby location or appear significantly smaller than its real world counterpart.

Either way, Grand Theft Auto 6's release is fast approaching, and the ferocious appetite of Grand Theft Auto fans grows ever larger. Key West is not the only notable absence, either, as GTA 6 Online has yet to be announced despite much excitement around it.

Meanwhile, Rockstar is currently in an employment tribunal following the abrupt firing of 31 staff last year, which the former employees argue was an act of union busting. This is still being debated in Scottish employment tribunals, with a verdict set to be released later in October.

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