GTA 6 release date has major publishers terrified of 'blast zone'

Several big video game publishers have revealed that they’re intentionally delaying their games so their sales aren’t impacted by the “blast zone” of Grand Theft Auto VI’s release.

Rockstar Games and Take-Two are staying tight-lipped on an exact release date for Grand Theft Auto VI, but they have stated several times that they’re still on track for a Q4 2025 date.

Well, according to several publishers, that’s kind of really annoying, because they can’t set release dates for their games until they know exactly when GTA VI is going to drop.

In a report by The Game Business' Christopher Dring, a handful of anonymous studio heads told the outlet that they're waiting to see what Rockstar Games has planned before they can feel comfortable committing to anything on their end.

“Rockstar games always suck a lot of money and, more importantly, time out of the market,” an anonymous game publish boss told The Game Business.

“We don’t want to be anywhere near that. We are working up multiple different plans for our titles.”

“GTA 6 is basically a huge meteor and we will just stay clear of the blast zone,” stated another studio head.

“We will nudge our releases back or forward three weeks to avoid it. Of course, the problem is everyone is going to do the same. 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 is assumedly made worse by reports that Grand Theft Auto VI may cost more than the average video game, upwards of $100.

If GTA VI does come in pricier than your standard AAA video game, that will eat into many players’ budgets for the following months.

Although one of the anonymous studio heads stated they’d potentially push their games “three weeks” to avoid clashing with the game, it might be smarter to bump that timeframe up a little so that players can save some extra cash.