Three big name games will be delayed if GTA 6 comes out this autumn

Several publishers have had to concoct alternative plans for releasing new games, depending on when exactly GTA 6 is released.

The lack of a concrete release date for GTA 6 may be frustrating news for its fans (Take-Two has only ever said autumn 2025), but it’s even more problematic for other game publishers.

Nobody is going to want to release their game anywhere close to GTA 6. Between the popularity of the series and the fact that there hasn’t been a wholly new entry since 2013, anticipation is sky high and most people will have zero interest in playing anything else.

It was previously reported that other publishers are refraining from committing to autumn release dates for this very reason and now we have confirmation straight from the horses’ mouths.

Speaking with The Game Business, no less than three big name publishers have anonymously admitted they have plans to delay their games in the event GTA 6 meets its autumn release window.

‘Rockstar games always suck a lot of money and, more importantly, time out of the market,’ said one. While another stresses how it’s already tough for new games to find an audience: ‘Even without GTA, it’s immensely difficult to find free time for new games to shine. Time is the real scarcity for us, not money.’

An unidentified European publisher has gone as far to say that the worst scenario would be GTA 6 launching at the end of October: ‘If it arrives in late October, that means you either have to launch early – which a lot of people seem to be doing with the recent glut of summer release dates. Or go later, putting you up against the Black Friday sales.’

Even studios behind live service games are apparently planning to not release any updates during GTA 6’s launch window. It’s not just the smaller ones either; The Game Business heard this from developers for two of the top 10 live service games; a list that includes other cultural juggernauts such as Call Of Duty and Fortnite.

‘GTA 6 is basically a huge meteor and we will just stay clear of the blast zone,’ said one, but the problem with moving its updates a few weeks earlier or later is that everyone else will have the same idea.

‘So three to four weeks before or after GTA 6, you’re going to get a load of games dropping content in what they believe will be the safe zone.’

All of this will be for naught if GTA 6 is delayed – which hasn’t been completely ruled out – but the uncertainty is what’s playing havoc with other publisher’s plans, with one studio boss calling the whole thing ‘stressful.’

You can’t blame these studios for being nervous, when GTA 5 became the fastest selling entertainment product ever and has made over $8.5 billion in its lifetime.

Rockstar and Take-Two will want to see GTA 6 perform even better and we may already have an idea of how they plan to achieve that. There’s already rumours of a successor to GTA Online, which is expected to launch this year too.

The game will also reportedly support paid user generated content, similar to how Roblox and Fortnite work. Aside from relying on content creators to provide new content and experiences for players, any user generated content sold would net Rockstar and Take-Two some extra cash as well.

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