With GTA VI being pushed back another six months to November 2026, we’ve been asking a lot of questions about how such a gaming giant’s move affects the rest of the industry. We talked to analysts about how this will impact the game’s 2026 release schedule and whether it will affect GTA VI sales at all. However, during these conversations, one of the analysts raised an engaging thought experiment: could the delay of GTA VI also result in a delay of the next generation of consoles?
This question was asked by Piers Harding-Rolls, Research Director at Ampere Analysis. He hasn’t found the answer one way or the other, but here’s how he considers the possibility:
The question I’m wondering is: could the delayed arrival of GTA VI delay the launch of next-gen consoles? Because the game is such an critical driver of hardware sales – not just at launch, but for many years to come, Sony and Microsoft will want a recurring release to take place much earlier than delayed 2026 to be able to realize the full benefits. We’re currently forecasting next-gen PlayStation and Xbox to arrive in delayed 2027, but could console makers be tempted to get more out of the current generation of consoles by riding the GTA VI wave and waiting until 2028?
Harding-Rolls raises a good point here. During our conversations with analysts, many of them indicated that the current generation of consoles is seeing a slower pace of adoption than previous generations for several reasons: the Covid-19 pandemic has made it more challenging to release hardware immediately after console launches, consoles are now more exorbitant and there is a lot of economic uncertainty, and many critical up-to-date games are still being released on last-gen consoles. GTA VI is expected to accelerate the adoption of the current generation of consoles, and many people are specifically waiting for the current-gen exclusive GTA VI to finally make a purchase. It’s clear that hardware manufacturers wouldn’t want to start talking about a up-to-date generation of consoles if they thought there was still money for the current generation, and if adoption of this version is postponed later, the same will happen with the next generation.
When I asked the Harding-Rolls question to other analysts to see what they thought, they didn’t think we should worry too much about the delayed next-gen launch due to GTA VI, specifically:
“What would Sony really gain by delaying the PS6 launch? Assuming they’re aiming for a late 2027 launch, that’s a full year AFTER GTA 6 launches,” said George Jijiashvili, senior principal analyst at Omdia. “So they would delay an entire generation due to additional hardware sales driven by people buying GTA 6 more than a year after launch? That doesn’t make sense. Besides, why would Sony/Microsoft prioritize sales of current-gen consoles for an extended period of time instead of encouraging people to buy next-gen consoles as soon as possible? Like GTA 5, GTA 6 will be cross-gen and targeted at PS5/XSX/S generation owners for many years to come.”
“As a side note, we currently believe that the PS6 launch will most likely occur in 2028 – even if we thought it would be 2027, we would not postpone it due to the GTA 6 delay.”
Rhys Elliott, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics, had the same opinion, pointing out, among other things, that in his opinion 2027 seems too early for next-gen consoles, regardless of where GTA VI falls.
“From PlayStation and Xbox’s perspective, delaying next-gen hardware just because GTA VI has pushed back its release date makes no strategic or operational sense. Console launches require extensive multi-year planning involving manufacturing, chip supply contracts, global logistics, retail coordination, and first-party software schedules. These time frames are set well in advance and are difficult to shift without serious financial and operational consequences.”
“…It would also expose Sony and Microsoft to unnecessary risk. The supply chain has proven fragile over the past few years, and major macroeconomic changes could easily disrupt production again. Worse yet, GTA VI itself could be delayed again, leaving platform holders with a stretched strategy anchored to a moving target.”
While we’re still a year away from GTA VI’s release, it’ll be worth taking a closer look and revisiting this question later, especially as we start to hear more rumors and whispers about plans for the next-gen console. We are also seeing other impacts from the delay and eventual release of GTA VI, including who will win and who will lose due to the delay, the internet’s reaction to this newshow analysts think this will affect the 2026 release calendar and what Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick had to say about it.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Her posts can be found on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Have a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
