The postponement of GTA VI will not do anything good for the gaming year 2025, because the game could become a powerful driver of market growth and return former players

The highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 game has been officially postponed to 26 May 2026. The decision to postpone was announced by Rockstar Games, but will it have any advantage for the industry or vice versa?

Here's What We Know

Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier, who previously reported on the difficulties in the development of GTA 6, noted that the postponement was obvious several months ago. According to him, the studio chose to avoid a "hard crunch", preferring to protect the health of the team.

Analyst Mat Piscatella from Circana believes that the delay of GTA 6 will have a significant impact on the gaming industry, especially on console sales. He emphasised that the game could have become a powerful driver of market growth and brought former players back to the PlayStation and Xbox Series. The absence of a release in 2025, according to his forecast, will lead to a decrease in total spending on video games in the US to the lowest level since the pandemic.

In addition, the expert drew attention to the "uncertainty in pricing" due to tariff increases and rising prices for consoles and games. Nintendo has already announced an increase in prices for Switch 2 accessories, and Microsoft has raised the price of Xbox Series X/S and plans to sell its own games for $80. But it is a mystery what price Take-Two will set for GTA VI.

GTA 6 is scheduled for release on 26 May 2026 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles. The PC version, according to preliminary data, will be released later - within a year after the consoles. Take-Two is confident that the postponement will not affect the company's ambitious plans for record sales in fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

Source: GamesRadar+.