Rockstar Games’ decision to delay the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6) to May 26, 2026, from its initial fall 2025 target, had varying impacts across the video game industry. While the delay, announced in the summer of 2025, was intended to ensure the game met the “level of quality [players] expect and deserve,” it was welcome news for some developers.
Nate Fox, the director at Sucker Punch, the studio behind Ghost of Yotei, revealed that the delay was celebrated by his team. In an interview with MinnMax, Fox jokingly stated, “We’re all still hungover, multi-month hangover. That was a great day.” This celebration stemmed from the fact that the delay prevented a direct clash between GTA 6 and Ghost of Yotei, which is 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.”
The announcement of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release date on September 4, 2025, had a similar effect, 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.
The potential impact of GTA 6 is expected to be even more significant. 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.”
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.
