GTA 6 / Rockstar Games
The official porting of GTA 6 created a real stir in the gaming world — Rockstar’s decision changed the plans of not only fans but also entire studios.
According to the information Bloombergmany developers and publishers are now rescheduling their projects again because they don’t want to release games next to the Rockstar titan. Some have already managed to change the release dates, while others are still thinking — and are very afraid that GTA 6 might be delayed again. Some, on the other hand, are praying for another delay to buy time to finalize the game by 2027.
GTA 6 was originally planned for the end of 2025, but now fans will have to wait until the spring of 2026. The company smoothed the situation a bit a new trailer and a bunch of screenshots. Players can only wait, but for the — industry, this is a real puzzle.
In order not to fall under the GTA marketing machine, many studios are thinking about how to do better. For example, an anonymous developer said that their multiplayer project was originally planned for the fall of 2025, but it has already been pushed back to the spring of 2026. They wanted to avoid overlapping with GTA 6, but now everything is in limbo. If GTA is postponed again, the new release date for their game will also be problematic. And if they don’t — the studio is at risk. Moreover, a second postponement requires a lot of money and it can undermine investor confidence. So the situation is a stalemate, no matter how you look at it.
It is now typical for the entire industry to see analysts at meetings with publishers trying to figure out Rockstar’s next steps. And this is without mentioning the GTA 6 multiplayer, which is likely to be released later than the main game (as was the case with GTA Online in 2013). For online projects, this is another pain: even if they bypass the GTA single player, they may simply not be able to compete with multiplayer.
There are also specific examples. EA’s new Battlefield has already changed its plans after the delay of GTA 6. The CEO directly told investors that he now sees a «clearer window» for the release — that is, he plans to go around the future blockbuster from the other side. But Hideo Kojima was happy because his Death Stranding 2, on the contrary, has a better chance of success this year. And Kingdom Come Deliverence 2 closer to the title of «Game of the Year».
So, the situation is twofold. On the one hand, Rockstar has time to polish the game better, and on the other hand, the release of this «monster» keeps the entire industry in suspense and disrupts publishers’ schedules. It turns out that GTA 6 hasn’t even been released yet, but it is already changing the market.
Source: Kotaku