Fans of Grand Theft Auto, there are some good news and some bad news. The good news is finally, after all these years, do we have a real time of daytime release for GTA 6. The bad news? About six months have passed compared to the “autumn 2025” which was originally told. To many in the video game sector, the New date of May 26, 2026 It is a welcome sigh of relief: dozens of publishers and developers of all sizes were afraid to meticulously plan their release campaigns only to discover later that they would release in the same month as this Erculeo title. However, there are many culprits not dated due to land next year which will now be frantically looking for a new date.
What is clear is that Grand Theft Auto 6 found himself propagated as Lynchpin in the near future of the video game sector – any news on the development of the project has a huge chain effect. So, in what way a delay of six months reflects a significant change in Rockstar’s corporate culture, questioned the revenue of the console market this year and potentially affects Switch 2?
Last year, total revenues from the video game sector reached $ 184.3 billion, with an increase of 0.2% compared to 2023. Contract in contradiction forecast Of a slight recession, it caused a sigh of relief for manufacturers and video games. However, in the console space, the revenue decreased by 1% – and we are already witnessing the consequences. A recession of sales of console hardware combined with a technological tariff war that increases forced prices for both Microsoft AND Sony. This generation needs a definitive title to move the console: it needs Grand Theft Auto 6.
Research groups estimate the crime sequel to earn $ 1 billion of preorders alone and 3.2 billion dollars in its first year of launch. It took 5 days of Grand Theft Auto to earn $ 1 billion, could it require Grand Theft Auto 6 only 24 hours? The Circana Analyst Mat Piscatella believes it “There has probably never been a more important thing to release in the sector”, Because the impact of the game will help to define our understanding of the potential growth in the video game sector in the next decade. It is said that it could be the first $ 100 video game, making it a new moment of watershed for the industry. That new point of reference could give the sector the growth of shots in the arms that many analysts claim to need. However, it is also possible to Grand Theft Auto 6 is simply too much a monolithic outlier to create progress outside of itself.
In 2018, Rockstar Games had an advertising crisis in his hand. Relationships of 100 hours weeks together with Previously mandatory extraordinary while developing Red Dead Redemption 2, more ex e current employees Speaking in intense periods of crisis deriving from Grand Theft Auto 4, he painted a clear image of one of the Gaming Titans. Since then, the company has undergone a sort of internal reinvention – according to a Bloomberg reportThe contractors converted to full -time employees and a “flexible” policy that allows workers to take free time for each hour of extraordinary worked are just two of the many most compassionate political issues issued. At the beginning of this year, Rockstar’s old reputation threatened to raise his head while the staff was done return to the office five days a week To close the development of Grand Theft Auto 6 – a move that makes the reason behind the delay quite clear. Bloomberg’s journalist Jason Schreier confirmed the same BlueskyExplaining that his Rockstar sources said that “there is too much work, not enough time and what seems to be a real desire for the direction to avoid brutal crunches”. Rockstar cannot correctly deliver a game that will change the world of video games if it slips again into old habits; While the delay is disappointing for those who play, it is undeniably a great relief for those who develop.
If you are a publisher, release your game simultaneously with Grand Theft Auto 6 is similar to throwing a bucket of water in a tsunami. Discussing the “autumn 2025” release window previously scheduled, a report of The game sector highlighted as such a nebulous date, he was affecting publishers all over the world. A study boss called Rockstar’s game “to huge meteor and we will only have to stay away from the explosion area”, while another has doubted “if we move from 2025, what if Rockstar did it?” (A surprisingly predictive concern). We also have artists of the caliber of the CEO of EA Andrew Wilson commenting implicitly On the looming shadow of the game in the context of the new battlefield, citing “some things that happen in the year that could make us think differently about our launch timing”.
However, enormous versions do not always obscure those that surround them. Despite being launched simultaneously with Bethesda’s remake Oblivion, RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 by Kepler Interact Interact: Expedition 33 sold over one million copies in just three daysWith the manager of the Senior Matt Handrahan portfolio also joking about the fact that it was the video game industry MOMENT OF BARCENHEIMER. It is difficult to believe that such a moment can exist for Grand Theft Auto 6, of course, and therefore it has not been said that such an extravagant idea will not be part of the plans of the publisher’s campaign. Don’t expect a moment of theft fairy tale in 2026.
It seems very unlikely that this will be the final date for Grand Theft Auto 6 for two reasons. Both Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 were subject to two delays in the dateWith the first delay it is al Second quarter of next yearfollowed by a second delay at Third quarter of the same year. Right now, Grand Theft Auto 6 is replicating that same temporal sequence, delayed by autumn 2025 to May 2026, therefore another delay in October/November 2026 seems a reasonably educated forecast.
That window of October/November seems even more likely if you consider the potential both for Microsoft and Sony to create a new console package including the sequel to the crime, which will surely increase sales during the holiday period. Sony sold 6.4 million PlayStation 4S during October – December 2014More than double the consoles sold between April and September of that year. Obviously there would have been the classic Christmas thrust, but what else did it happen in that period of time? Grand Theft Auto 5 released on PS4.
What could be the biggest surprise, however, is that Nintendo could be one of the parts most affected by this delay. Recently, the Take-Boo Strauss Zelnick CEO implemented the complete support for the switch 2Bringing the fans to mirror if Grand Theft Auto 6 could also watch a launch of Switch 2. Grand Theft Auto: the final edition of the trilogy has seen a surprise launch on Nintendo Switch, so there is previous for an adult franchise on a console typically suitable for families. Many believed that Switch technology was not powerful enough to perform a game like Grand Theft Auto, however last year Modders released a video showing a Porta in progress of GTA 5 running on the switch Using the leaked source of the game. While it seems unlikely that Nintendo would take into consideration the great success 6 in the success of the first year of Switch, there is a clear and strong relationship between the Take-Tlato and Nintendo publisher who should not be ignored. When looking at the console market as part of the overall video game sector, Nintendo is still a huge part of this, it doesn’t matter how much an island may seem. The Nintendo switch was still a guest on a series of games that define the generation including Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, Metal Gear Solid, Crysis and more. And with Cyberpunk 2077 that arrives on Switch 2 at the launch, complete with its current Phantom Liberty expansion for only Gen Gen, we should not ignore the potential for the doors of “miracles”.
What is clear is that there is a lot of many cars on Grand Theft Auto 6. Many different honors of the video game sector, from the studio garments to the main analysts, believe that this game that defines the generation will be what will break the stagnation of the growth of the sector. It is difficult to deny the demand and anticipation of global febrile for a game that has actually been in progress for over a decade. There are incredibly high expectations on the Rockstar Games teams to provide something that not only restores the video game industry on its own to its pre-plays growth, but also presents a completely new type of video game experience that will become the new reference point for developers and publishers who move forward. Rockstar has only one shot to do it well: what are six months after 13 years?
Sab Astley is a freelance writer who wrote for IGN, Polygon, Totalfilm, Rolling Stone, Radio Times and UK Metro.