GTA 6 Causes Gridlock As Game Devs Redirect To Avoid Rockstar’s Launch

Readers who tuned into Sony PlayStation's State of Play or the Summer Games Fest livestreams this past week may have noticed that September and October are absolutely jam-packed with new game releases ahead of Grand Theft Auto VI dropping on November 19th.

This is no coincidence. Publishers big and small are trying to avoid a GTA-induced black hole sucking up sales from virtually everyone else. Even prolific indie releases, like Hollow Knight: Silksong, were known for winning sales over other titles, indie or not, upon release. The next Grand Theft Auto release is nearly insurmountable competition for just about any game, open-world or not. As such, we're seeing a similiar concentration of game releases to November 2011, both before and after GTA VI.

2011 was a banner year for gamers, but November included the launches of Skyrim, Zelda Skyward Sword, Uncharted 3, Sonic Generations, Modern Warfare 3, Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Rayman Origins, to start. October had just given us Batman: Arkham City and Forza Motorsport 4, as well.


Fast forward to 2026 and September will start with both Blood of Dawnwalker, a new AAA RPG from a new studio of Witcher 3 alumni on September 3rd. That's followed up with the arrival of Marvel's Wolverine on September 15th. A week after that, Control: Resonant, Silent Hill: Townfall, and Onimusha: Way of the Sword will all drop within two days, with Resonant and Townfall coming on September 24th.

And that's just major releases: September will also see Dune: Awakening on consoles, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter Remake, and even Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 4, among several indie releases.

In just the first two days of October, Rayman Legends Retold and a Dynasty Warriors 3 remaster will be followed by Ace Combat 8. Star Wars: Galactic Racer (October 6th), Silver Pines (October 8th) will fill in the week after, Planet Zoo 2 will drop on October 13th, and both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (October 23rd) and Phantom Blade Zero (October 29th) will close out October.

This is likely an incomplete picture of October releases as well, since there are dozens of releases slated for 2026 with dates yet to be confirmed.

At the time of writing, no major releases besides Grand Theft Auto VI are known to be planned for November, and this might be for the best. An Xbox showcase planned for tomorrow is likely to reveal Gears of War: E-Day and Halo: Campaign Evolved, and while those may drop in November, they're more likely to be planned for September or December in order to avoid the inevitable drought of console game sales for non-GTA games.

Note, however, that Grand Theft Auto VI is only releasing on PlayStation and Xbox Series consoles on November 19th, the PC release will come later as with past Rockstar releases.

Personally, I'm interested in Avatar Legends (July 3rd), Control: Resonant (September 24th), and Star Wars: Galactic Racer (October 8th) for day-one PC buys this year. But what will you be playing? And when do you think GTA VI will make its way to PC? If Rockstar follows the path it set with RDR 2, don't expect a PC release until about Q4 2027.