GTA 6 release date has other games genuinely scared

When the industry is poised to receive one of the biggest games of all-time, it’s understandable that other developers and publishers would want to avoid releasing their game at the same time.

From hype alone, GTA VI is a juggernaut unseen in video games before, and it’s likely to sell millions of copies and be played by a huge chunk of the gaming audience.

Fingers are crossed that we see a second trailer for GTA VI in the coming weeks.

In an article by Jason Schreier for Bloomberg, he describes many studios as being scared to confirm releases dates for their own games in case of clashing with the latest Grand Theft Auto title.

Schreier says, “Anticipation is so high that some competing game publishers are waiting as long as possible to commit to their release dates for the fall.”

This comes from sources who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorised to speak publicly on such things.

When so many players will be spending their money on GTA VI, a game that will be notably vast in scope, consuming hundreds of hours of playtime, it’s unlikely those same players will be buying anything else.

Avoiding the launch date of a title like this isn’t uncommon, but as we don’t yet know the firm release date for Rockstar Games’ next title, publishers are wary.

“The publishers want to see whether GTA VI will make its deadline or slip into 2026, these people say, and they’re determined to keep their own games far, far away," comments Schreier.

Given that GTA VI is reported to have slipped in schedule internally, this is a possibility. However, Take-Two, Rockstar Games’ parent company, believes the game is still on track.

This will mean that any triple-A games currently scheduled for the latter half of 2025, particularly any open-world games, will likely slip into 2026 to avoid the clash.