00:00So, I'm not sure if you've heard, but GTA 6 has been delayed again.
00:04Yes, Rockstar has pushed back Grand Theft Auto's return to its Miami-inspired setting of Vice City to November 19th, 2026.
00:10I, for one, am sad about this, as I'm sure you may be as well, but this announcement isn't necessarily bad news for everyone.
00:17So let's see who may profit and who might take a hit from GTA 6's latest delay.
00:24What you doing up there?
00:27I'm just fixing some leaks.
00:28Seriously, dude, you got some time on your hands. I got some properties with paying tenants.
00:37Congratulations, Crimson Desert, 007 First Light, Saros, and any other game currently planning on a March or April 2026 release.
00:44I'm sure a huge sigh of relief was let out at the South Korean headquarters of Pearl Abyss and the Scandinavian studios of IO Interactive and Housemarque.
00:51Not only should it benefit the sales of these games due to the players' money that was set aside for GTA 6's previous May date,
00:58now being freed up to be spent elsewhere, but it may even give them a little wiggle room to delay a few weeks themselves
01:03and avoid that dreaded crunch in order to get out before Rockstar's behemoth,
01:09something Marvel 1943 Rise of Hydra has already done by moving beyond early 2026.
01:15Sorry, PC gamers, but if history is anything to go by, then the wait for GTA 6 has just gotten even longer for you.
01:25If Rockstar is to follow its normal pattern of releases, it could well be a couple of years, yet until the state of Leonida makes its way to Windows.
01:32For reference, Red Dead Redemption 2 launched on consoles on October 26, 2018, but it didn't find its way on a Steam until a whole year later, November 5, 2019.
01:41The wait for GTA 5 on PC was even longer, with its April 14, 2015 release coming 19 months after its original September 17, 2013 console arrival.
01:51So, apologies again, but if PC is your chosen place to play, you may well be looking deep into 2027 or even early 2028 to play GTA 6.
02:04In theory, delaying GTA 6 is a good thing for the development team at Rockstar, hopefully preventing excessive crunch impacting the studio as it races towards deadlines.
02:13But, this week also saw 30 to 40 Rockstar employees fired from their positions at the company for what Rockstar describes as leaking confidential information in a public forum.
02:24The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain, aka the IWGB, claims this was blatant and ruthless union busting, though, and this is a developing situation with no clear answers at the moment.
02:36What is clear, though, is that having a few dozen fewer employees definitely won't ease the burden on the developers still at the studio.
02:42Let's hope that the theoretical crunch time saved by the delay won't have been completely negated by this reduction in work force.
02:52Pedro Pascal wins again.
02:53Yes, The Mandalorian's feature film debut alongside his little green friend Grogu is scheduled to release on May 22, 2026, the same week as GTA 6's previous release date, May 26, 2026.
03:05Well, the upcoming Star Wars film now seemingly has a clear runway to rake it into the box office with people being more likely to leave their house now that the distraction of GTA 6 gluing them to their TV screens is being taken away all the way to November.
03:19Microsoft and its Xbox Game Studios are due for a big 2026, but with no release dates currently known for its big hitters, Fable, Forza Horizon 6, Halo Campaign Evolved, Gears of War E-Day, and 2026's Call of Duty included, could this spell a problem for the publisher?
03:43Well, we can safely assume that Call of Duty would have been eyeing up a similar release date to GTA 6's new November one, which would no doubt impact its player base and surely at least one other game from that list has a late 2026 window penciled in.
03:57Could this scupper Microsoft's plan for the end of next year and mean one or two games have to get pushed back to early 2027?
04:04Of course, it would be wise to get something out of the door before Grand Theft Auto arrives, but there's only so fast developers can work.
04:10And I'd much rather wait than hear more horror stories about Studio Crunch.
04:14The bad news is you won't be playing GTA 6 in late May. The good news, you're now free to attend IGN Live in early June, our special event in Los Angeles open to the public to come and enjoy all the fun and exciting new video games.
04:29But apart from that, it also means that all of the summer shows, such as Jeff Keighley's Summer Games Fest, are in no trouble of being overshadowed by the release of GTA just a couple of weeks prior.
04:38This means we can enjoy all the new game announcements and looks at gameplay without having to tear ourselves away from Vice City.
04:44I'd just recommend that nobody pick November as their chosen release date at the end of those trailers.
04:51Currently scheduled for a late 2026 release window, one of Sony's biggest hitters for next year, Marvel's Wolverine, may want to get out before the end of October at the latest to avoid being impacted by GTA 6.
05:03In truth, any game looking to launch towards the end of next year is probably scrambling to put together a plan right now, and it will be no different between Insomniac and PlayStation as they work out the best course of action.
05:16GTA 6 will now drop just before Black Friday 2026, so expect both PS5 and Xbox Series X and S bundles to be in more demand than ever across capitalism's favorite weekend of the year.
05:28Expect low stock as electronic stores all around the world make all the money they can as people get their GTA machines into their homes.
05:38Now another six months of waiting may feel painful right now, but let's try and look on the bright side.
05:43We get our summer back! Go outside, enjoy an ice cream, run around on the beach, get sand between your toes, catch up with an old friend in a leafy beer garden, watch every minute of the World Cup.
05:53November will be here before you know it. Those shorter winter days are much better suited to locking all the doors and playing games all day anyway.
06:00So what do you think? Do you think there's anything else that will suffer from another GTA 6 delay?
06:04Let us know in the comments, and for all things video games, even the delayed ones, stick with IGN.
Be the first to comment