The shadow of Grand Theft Auto 6 looms large as Xbox, and presumably the rest of the gaming industry, attempts to avoid clashing with it.
Its become accepted wisdom in the gaming fandom that the officially announced release dates of any AAA title will end up being delayed anyway. Publishers leave these announcements for later and later — and in some cases a few specific offenders can be to blame. If you're wondering why Microsoft hasn't given release dates for some of its biggest titles yet, Matt Booty might have just let us in on the answer.
"I think many across the industry are of course going to plan around GTA 6, and we're all looking forward to that game, which should be amazing," shared the Head of Xbox Game Studios in an interview with Variety's Strictly Business podcast.
In late May, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick confirmed that Grand Theft Auto 6 will follow the same release window as its predecessor, coming out in Fall 2025. However, without a specific release date, Microsoft, and other companies, are wise to pay attention.
GTA 6 is expected to generate billions in revenue for Take-Two and the rest of the video game industry. The controversial game will draw significant interest from mainstream media, leading to an influx of casual audiences looking for other games aside from GTA 6 — eventually.
With the next GTA title as the highlight, it might take weeks — or more! — for the hype to fade. This is the perfect "rising tide lifts all boats" scenario for companies like Xbox, but only if they can properly capitalize on GTA 6 and its release. If not, they risk ceding all the spotlight to GTA 6, which isn't ideal for a brand already struggling for recognition among both casual and hardcore audiences.
Unless it's Call of Duty we're talking about, neither Xbox, nor any other video game company, is capable of releasing a title that could feasibly be released around the same time as GTA 6 and not hurt for it. While Fable, Doom: The Dark Ages, and the Perfect Dark reboot are all first-party AAA titles, they don't hold the same weight as GTA 6.
Unlike what happened with Marvel's Spider-Man 2 last year when Remedy Entertainment delayed Alan Wake 2 by 10 days to avoid a potential clash, it might take a while for people to stop playing GTA 6, especially if its online component fares better than GTA 5 in its initial launch. All of this is to say that Take-Two was right to express confidence in May that GTA 6 has no rivals in the industry.
As for PlayStation, Sony doesn't seem they're worried too much about GTA 6's impending release. If anything, they'll benefit the most from it. Grand Theft Auto V is the best-selling video game on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. Meanwhile, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto III, and Grand Theft Auto Vice City, collectively sold nearly 37 million units combined on PlayStation 2.
For reference, over 1.5 billion copies of video games were sold for the PS2 and the 3D Universe GTA titles made up roughly 3% of it. There's also the speculation from earlier this year that Sony and Rockstar have struck an unsurprising partnership to bundle the PS5 Pro and GTA 6 together.
Will this presumed waiting game pay off for Xbox? We'll never know for sure until it happens. For now, it's clear everyone is waiting on Rockstar to release GTA 6. Everyone, except PC players that is, who still await any kind of word on when the title will hit their platform.
For now, GTA fans can enjoy the recently released GTA Online update. If you need help, our Bottom Dollar Bounties Business Guide will get you up to speed with what you need to know about hunting for bounties and doing vigilante work in Los Santos.
