GTA 6 in 2026: What impact would it have on video games? This specialist answers!

The heist of the century

Let’s be clear: it doesn’t matter when Grand Theft Auto VI comes out. At this point, even his qualities and his faults will no longer change much. All sights are aligned on the fact that it will be an unprecedented cultural event, that it will make more noise than any CD, that it will be on more screens than any film, that it will be played more than any other video game before it. In a short year, its first trailer has been viewed more than 232 million times, a historic figure compared to the period given for a product released on our consoles.

The analysis firm DFC Intelligence is convinced: Rockstar’s production will generate no less than a billion dollars in revenue from its pre-orders alone and more than 3 billion dollars during its first year of existence. A planned turnover which, again, would go well beyond what we are used to seeing in the pixel industry. Whether we love the series or it leaves us unmoved, whether we appreciate its themes or reject them, Grand Theft Auto will redistribute the cards. The only question we have the right to ask ourselves is how long it will take for the sixth episode to beat the 200 million copies sold in 11 years of its big brother.

On the outskirts of Vice City, worried looks multiply. Those of the players, first of all, increasingly worried at the idea of ​​not being able to play GTA 6 this year because of Take-Two’s silence. It must be recognized that the latest news does not necessarily reassure them. Between the evasive statements of an actor who collaborated with Rockstar and the pessimistic forecasts by Jason Schreier as to the launch of the software in 2025, doubts are emerging. Those of the video game giants, then, who would like Take-Two to set a date in stone to decide when their own games will be released. GTA 6 is so out of the norm in the expectations it arouses that no one wants to come face to face with it. When we know the production costs of games today, amounting to around 300 million dollars for a AAA, the slightest misstep can hurt a lot. Those of the analysts, finally, anxious to see the side effects of a GTA 6 which would not arrive until 2026.

Good cop, bad cop

As usual, the site Gamesindustry surveyed the industry’s most renowned analyst firms to find out what their predictions are for the year ahead. Emmanuel Rosier, from Newzoo, then declared that the title published by Take-Two was “poised to reshape the video game industry” and that he “will leave a lasting mark” even if it arrives in the middle of the life cycle of current consoles, unlike the fifth part in its time. “How Rockstar adapts the Grand Theft Auto formula to this evolving landscape will not only determine the success of GTA 6, but could also redefine the future of open-world gaming”, prophesied the expert.

See GTA V on Cdiscount

However, Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis is sounding the alarm. Certainly, the revenue generated is expected to see slight growth with the launch of the Switch 2. Generally speaking, the analyst predicts that the overall market should be “similar to historical peak” observed in 2021, during confinements. However, if GTA 6 dodges 2025, its importance is such that the console market figures “will probably decrease”. In other words, if the new episode of Grand Theft Auto does not come out this year, then the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S will sell less, and this will cause immediately identifiable damage to the industry’s performance. A blessing in disguise, one would be tempted to think, this hypothetical absence being able to leave more room for other productions to exist/develop. However, many observers are waiting for a strong signal – and therefore performance – to escape the vicious circle of crisis treatment.

What crisis? That of employment in the world of video games, of course. That of financing original projects, too. Investments and growth projections at the time of the pandemic never materialized, while the video game giants – Valve, Sony, Microsoft, Electronic Arts – are less and less interested in small structures and large-scale projects. human. Recently, Shawn Layden, former boss of PlayStation Studios, regretted see “sequels and imitations” because of the financiers who believe that “if Fortnite made that much money in that much time, a Fortnite knockoff can make just as much”. “People who say ‘survive until 2025’ make me sad because they think things will get better”, lamented Mike Rose, boss of No More Robots, in the lines of GameDeveloper, seeing only one possible future for this industry where the big AAA/service games leave the crumbs to others: collapse.

Leonida straight ahead

Beyond all this agitation about what awaits the world of video games with the arrival of a software as important as GTA 6, and the way in which it will “reshape the video game industry” according to analysts, Rockstar seems to be staying the course. According to Strauss Zelnick, director of Take-Two, their open world taking place in Vice City will please players. “I never claim victory before it happens. That said, I think Rockstar Games will once again deliver something absolutely phenomenal. Expectations are clearly high“, he admitted to the Financial Times. At the time of writing, GTA 6 is in any case still officially expected for 2025. The date is still listed on the official website of the software et the post LinkedIn published a few days ago by Georgio Jankowski, Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist at Rockstar, specifies that the title is still on track for 2025. Will plans change, as Jason Schreier speculates? Tick ​​tock, the countdown continues.