I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but GTA 6 has been delayed again. Yes, Rockstar has postponed the return of Grand Theft Auto to the Miami-inspired Vice City until November 19, 2026. First of all, it makes me unhappy, and I’m sure it might make you unhappy too. But this announcement isn’t necessarily bad news for everyone. So let’s see who stands to gain and who stands to gain from the recent Grand Theft Auto 6 date change.
Every game in spring 2026 – winners
Congratulations, Crimson Desert, 007 First Light, Saros, and any other games currently scheduled for release in March or April 2026. I’m sure there’s a huge sigh of relief at the South Korean headquarters of Pearl Abyss and at the Scandinavian studios IO Interactive and Housemarque. Not only should this benefit sales of these games as players’ money set aside for GTA 6’s previous May launch is now freed up to be spent elsewhere, but it may even give them some breathing room to delay themselves for a few weeks and avoid that dreaded crisis to get out ahead of the Rockstar colossus – something Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra has already done by pushing itself “beyond early 2026.”
PC gamers – losers
Sorry, PC gamers, but if history is anything to go by, the wait for GTA 6 has become even longer for you. If Rockstar is to continue with its normal game release pattern, it could be a few more years before Leonid’s State comes to Windows. By comparison, Red Dead Redemption 2 launched on consoles on October 26, 2018, but didn’t hit Steam until a full year later on November 5, 2019. The wait for GTA 5 on PC was even longer – it launched on April 14, 2015, 19 months after its console launch on September 17, 2013. So, again, I apologize, but if PC is your preferred place to play, maybe you’ll be looking beyond 2027 or even early 2028 to play GTA 6.
GTA 6 creators – it’s complicated
In theory, the delay of GTA 6 is a good thing for the Rockstar development team, hopefully preventing an undue crisis from affecting the studio as deadlines approach. But this week, between 30 and 40 Rockstar employees were fired from their positions at the company for what Rockstar describes as leaking “confidential information in a public forum.” But the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) says it was “flagrant” and “ruthless” union-busting. This is an evolving situation with no clear answers at this time. What Is However, it is clear that having a few dozen fewer employees will certainly not ease the burden on programmers still working in the studio. Let us hope that the theoretical crisis time saved by the delay will not be completely negated by the reduction in the workforce.
The Mandalorian and Grogu – Winners
Pedro Pascal wins again. Yes, the full-length debut of The Mandalorian, along with his little green friend Grogu, is scheduled to premiere on May 22, 2026 – the same week as GTA 6’s previous release on May 26, 2026. Well, the upcoming Star Wars movie clearly now has a clear runway to rake in money at the box office, and people are more willing to leave the house now that Grand Theft Auto glues them to their TV screens is gone.
Microsoft – lost
Microsoft and its Xbox Game Studios are looking at a massive year in 2026. But with no current release dates for its biggest hits – Fable, Forza Horizon 6, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War E-Day and Call of Duty in 2026 – could this spell trouble for the publisher? We can safely assume that Call of Duty would expect a similar release date to GTA 6’s November release, which would no doubt have an impact on the player base, and certainly at least one game on this list has a slow 2026 window marked. Could this derail Microsoft’s plans for the end of next year and mean that one or two games will have to be pushed back to early 2027? Of course, it would be wise to release something before Grand Theft Auto arrives, but developers can only work so brisk, and I’d rather wait than hear more horror stories about a studio crisis.
Summer gaming events – winners
Bad news? You won’t be playing GTA 6 at the end of May. Good news? You can now attend IGN Live in early June, our special event in Los Angeles open to the public to come and enjoy the fun of recent and upcoming video games. But beyond that, it also means that all the summer shows like Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest can’t be overshadowed by the release of Grand Theft Auto just a few weeks earlier. This means we can enjoy all the recent game announcements and watch the gameplay without having to break away from Vice City. I would simply recommend that no one chooses November as their chosen release date at the end of the trailers.
Marvel’s Wolverine – Loser
Currently scheduled for a “late 2026” release window, one of Sony’s biggest hits for next year, Marvel’s Wolverine, may want to come out no later than the end of October to avoid the impact of GTA 6. In fact, any game that’s scheduled to release at the end of next year is likely already working on putting a plan together, and it won’t be any different for Insomniac and PlayStation as they work out the best course of action.
Black Friday 2026 console retailers – winners
GTA 6 will now launch just in time for Black Friday 2026, so expect both PS5 and Xbox Series X/S bundles to be in greater demand than ever during Capitalism’s favorite weekend. Expect low inventory as electronics stores around the world make as much money as they can when people deliver their Grand Theft Auto machines to their homes.
We, the players – losers (and winners)
Another six months of waiting may seem painful now, but let’s try to look on the vivid side. We got summer back. Go outside. Enjoy your ice cream. Run on the beach and grab the sand between your toes. Meet an senior friend in the leafy beer garden. Watch every minute of the World Cup. November will be here before you know it. Either way, these shorter winter days are much better suited to closing all the doors and playing games all day long.
Simon Cardy is a senior editor at IGN who can mostly be found hanging around open-world games, watching Korean cinema, or moping about the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
