GTA 6's release date is already having a massive impact on the industry

An industry expert claims that the release date of GTA VI is already having a massive impact on the industry and not necessarily in a good way.

Following countless months of rumours and leaks, Rockstar Games revealed the first trailer for GTA VI in December 2023 which broke viewing records on YouTube almost instantly.

Check out the GTA VI trailer below!

While the trailer never appeared to show much in terms of gameplay, it looked at least to be in-engine footage and it was certainly enough to make fans of the Grand Theft Auto series hyped.

What’s more, in the trailer, Rockstar Games revealed the vague launch window of 2025, believed to be late this year. However, despite being officially revealed 15 months ago, we still don’t have a solid release date for GTA VI.

We know that fans will likely book days off work (or call in sick) to play GTA VI when it eventually releases and we don’t blame them but what impact could its release have on other publishers?

As reported by TweakTown (via PC Gamer), industry video game analyst and director of consulting at Newzoo, Ben Porter claims that the launch of GTA VI is harming other companies.

The most common reason for developers and publishers to delay a game would be for extra polish, such as Assassin’s Creed Shadows which was delayed more than once by Ubisoft.

However, if there’s a major release launch during the same week as another smaller game, developers and publishers may issue a delay to get as far away from the likes of GTA VI as reasonably possible.

“If you're a game company who's holding its breath waiting for GTA VI to get out, and then it gets delayed by three, four, five, six months, what do you do?” Porter told PC Gamer during GDC 2025 last week.

“You either have to be able to launch into that big black hole that's been left open now, or you have to extend your run rate by an additional six months—I'm certain some companies are going to tank as a result of that, right?”

“Everybody that we're talking to, they're ships trying to move out of the way of this big iceberg that is GTA VI,” he said.

I think it’s safe to assume that gamers, developers and publishers will be hoping that a solid release date for GTA VI is confirmed sooner rather than later.

Grand Theft Auto VI is currently announced for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S with a PC release yet to be confirmed.