Who’s afraid of the next GTA? Based on the last few days of Summer Game Fest, just about everyone. Grand Theft Auto VI hasn’t been present at any of the keynote events, but its presence was felt every time a release date was announced. The month of November, when GTA VI launches, is virtually empty. The rest of the fall, meanwhile, is absolutely packed.
It started at Sony’s State of Play showcase on Tuesday. Even before that show, we knew that Wolverine, the next big PlayStation exclusive, would be launching on September 15th. But now it’s joined by a bunch of major third-party titles: Dune: Awakening (September 22nd), Control Resonant (September 24th), Silent Hill: Townfall (September 24th), Onimusha: Way of the Sword (September 25th), and Ace Combat 8 (October 2nd). This is on top of other games launching before November that had already been announced, like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 in October.
Meanwhile, at SGF Live this evening, many of the biggest games went even further out, with planned launches in 2027. That includes: Sega’s crime epic Stranger Than Heaven and its Virtua Fighter spinoff Crossroads; Bandai Namco’s Gundam Rogue Orbit; Capcom’s “massive expansion” for Monster Hunter Wilds; Clutch, the debut Forza-like racer from Maverick Games; and Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us 2. The big reveal of the evening, Final Fantasy VII Revelation, won’t be out until next spring.
And while Xbox’s keynote doesn’t take place until Sunday, it has already moved things out of GTA’s way. When it announced that Fable would be delayed yet again, this time until 2027, Microsoft said that part of the reasoning is that this “year is packed with incredible games,” and then cited GTA VI by name, in addition to other titles.
Of course, not all of these titles changed their date specifically because of GTA, but at least some of them did. This also isn’t an entirely new phenomenon. Last year, when Silksong got its surprise September release date, other indie titles shifted their plans to stay clear of it. In some ways, GTA VI is similar, as it’s a long-in-development follow-up to a massive hit. But GTA is also obviously on a much larger scale: These aren’t small indie studios changing their plans, they’re some of the biggest publishers in the industry, including Sony, Microsoft, and Capcom.
The reasoning makes some amount of sense. GTA VI is as close as there is to a guaranteed hit. It’s the follow-up to a game that has not only sold nearly 230 million copies across three console generations, but also continues to rake in money through a lucrative online mode. It’s entirely likely GTA VI won’t match those lofty numbers, but it’ll still assuredly sell a lot of copies. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of GTA publisher Take-Two, said in a recent earnings call that he expects to “establish new record levels of operating performance driven by the November 19th launch of Grand Theft Auto VI.” Even the suggestion of a new GTA VI trailer is enough to get the internet frothing.
But when everyone has the same idea to avoid November, it creates a different kind of problem: There’s a complete logjam of major releases over the next few months, particularly in September, when several major games are now coming out on the exact same day. Is that really any better than being in the vicinity of GTA?
When The Verge asked Control Resonant creative director Mikael Kasurinen about this at a recent preview event, he seemed undeterred by the sheer number of games launching in the same window. “We’re confident in our game,” he explained. “We feel like we’re in a good place, we have a very distinctive, unique experience, and we believe in that.”
Of course, there’s one notable absence from that list of companies dodging GTA, and that’s Nintendo. The company hasn’t yet detailed its holiday plans, and has instead focused on upcoming titles launching soon, like Star Fox (June 25th), Rhythm Heaven Groove (July 2nd) and Splatoon Raiders (July 23rd). But beyond that the calendar is empty, so there’s almost certainly a big announcement (or announcements) coming up that will reveal the games that will power the Switch 2 through the all-important holiday season.
If there’s one company that would buck industry trends and launch a major title in November, it would be Nintendo.
Additional reporting by Kallie Plagge.