It’s not just gamers waiting for GTA 6’s release date; publishers are desperate for it too

Grand Theft Auto VI’s release is worrying other developers so much that they believe it will eat up the demand for any other games released in the same time period, according to an industry analyst.

Even though we still don’t have a release date for Rockstar Games’ upcoming GTA VI, publishers are reportedly holding off on announcing release dates for their own titles – just in case they have to push them back, should their release date clash with Grand Theft Auto VI.

This comes from Mike Fischer, professor of Interactive Media at the University Southern California, during an interview with Game World Observers’ Evgeny Obedkov.

“GTA VI is going to be so big and so successful it may suck up all of the time and all of the money of all gamers… When GTA VI ships, it will be a challenging disruption,” stated Fischer.

“Hopefully, there will be a larger audience as a result, but it’s literally an unknown territory, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Fischer isn’t the first person to say this either, as another well-regarded industry insider mentioned that publishers had echoed similar sentiments to him last year.

“Anticipation is so high that some competing game publishers are waiting as long as possible to commit to their release dates for the fall, according to people familiar with their deliberations who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorised to speak publicly,” stated Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier.

“The publishers want to see whether GTA VI will make its deadline or slip into 2026, these people say, and they’re determined to keep their own games far, far away.”

I think one of the other issues at play here is just how expensive new games tend to be.

If you can only really afford one new AAA title per month, which is probably the standard for most consumers out there, GTA VI is going to be a surefire locked-in pick for most people in whatever month it drops.

Expect to see a slew of other release dates in the news a week or so after Grand Theft Auto VI’s release date officially drops.