Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier reported on the domino effect triggered by the recent delay of Rockstar Games’ hotly anticipated open-world crime action game GTA VI.
Image source: Rockstar Games
Let’s recall that GTA VI was supposed to be released in the fall, but last Friday Rockstar announced that it was postponing the release to May 26, 2026. The decision sent Take-Two Interactive (Rockstar’s parent company) shares plummeting by 10%.
GTA VI is expected to be the biggest launch in entertainment history. According to Schreier, developers of games in the second half of 2025 are now breathing a sigh of relief, while those of more distant releases are holding emergency meetings.
Game publishers don’t want to risk releasing close to GTA VI
A developer of a major multiplayer game told Schreier that he recently pushed back the release from fall 2025 to spring 2026 (in part because of fears about GTA VI), and now finds himself between two fires:
- The second delay will cost the studio dearly, but releasing the game close to GTA VI risks turning into an even more disastrous undertaking;
- No one is ruling out the possibility that GTA VI could be delayed again.
Meanwhile, the developers of games scheduled for autumn 2026 are “praying that Rockstar doesn’t [delay GTA VI] again.” Others, on the contrary, hope so – then they will have an excuse to postpone the project to 2027 and get more time for production.
Business analysts from all major gaming companies are now trying to figure out whether Rockstar will be able to finish GTA VI by May 2026
As Schreier points out, competition isn’t always a recipe for disaster for smaller games: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered’s surprise release didn’t stop Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from selling 2 million copies in less than two weeks.
At the same time, the industry has never seen a precedent of this level. GTA V became one of the most successful games in history (210 million copies), and GTA VI is already breaking records: the second trailer of the action movie collected a fabulous 475 million views in the first day alone.