Rockstar Games’ decision to delay Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6) to May 26, 2026, has sent ripples across the video game industry, with some developers welcoming the news.
Nate Fox, director at Sucker Punch, the studio behind Ghost of Yotei, revealed that his team celebrated the delay. In an interview with MinnMax, Fox jokingly stated, “We’re all still hungover, multi-month hangover. That was a great day.” The celebration was due to the delay preventing a direct clash between GTA 6 and Ghost of Yotei, scheduled for release on October 2, 2025.
The gaming industry has been keenly aware of GTA 6’s potential impact, with many studios strategizing to avoid overlapping release dates. Adam Lieb, CEO of marketing platform Gamesight, noted, “I would say that GTA for the last year and a half has been a part of almost every conversation around launch dates I have heard.”
A similar effect was seen with the announcement of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release date on September 4, 2025, causing several other studios to reschedule their launches. Games affected by Silksong’s timing included Demonschool, Aeterna Lucis, Little Witch in the Woods, CloverPit, Megabonk, Baby Steps, Faeland, Starbirds, and Moros Protocol. Even Stomp and the Sword of Miracles, an indie game, delayed its Kickstarter launch and demo release.
Nigel Lowrie, co-founder of Devolver Digital, described GTA as potentially an “AAAAA game,” emphasizing its “scope and scale of the game and the kind of cultural impact that it has and the attention it demands.” The potential impact of GTA 6 is expected to be even more significant.
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to Ghost of Tsushima, is confirmed to be set more than 300 years after the events of the first game, taking place in the lands surrounding Mount Yotei.
