GTA VI delay could derail 2026’s other AAA releases

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 07/11/2025

Rockstar has announced that the release of GTA VI has been delayed once again, now scheduled for November 19, 2026.

The delay puts Grand Theft Auto’s highly anticipated sixth mainline title on a collision course with several other titles expected to release in Q4 of 2026.

GTA VI delayed once again

The latest delay is the second time the game has been formally delayed. GTA VI was originally scheduled for Q3 of 2025.

This information was revealed by financial earnings and projections from Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two Interactive, during their Q4 fiscal presentation for 2024.

That ballpark release date was later delayed, with May 26, 2026, later being announced as the first formal release date of the game.

Yet, gamers now know that they will have to wait until at least November 2026 to get their hands on the game, pushing the release back by another six months.

GTA VI is expected to be one of the most successful releases of all time, when the time comes, but it is also expected to be one of the most expensive games to produce.

The news is hardly a surprise, considering the increased complexity of creating AAA games.

Rockstar provided the following statement in the announcement:

“We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve.
“We want to thank you again for your patience and support. While the wait is a little longer, we are incredibly excited for players to experience the sprawling state of Leonida and a return to modern day Vice City.”

News of the delay closely follows the sacking of 31 of Rockstar’s UK employees. The dismissals caused protests outside of Rockstar’s London and Edinburgh offices due to accusations of union busting.

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) accused Rockstar of “the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry.”

Take-Two deny the claims, stating that the dismissals are a result of sharing confidential information.

Which games could be affected by GTA VI delay?

Recent data showed that the anticipation for GTA VI dwarfs any other upcoming release, with UK broadband users searching online for the game seven times as often as Battlefield 6, itself a hugely successful release.

That has natural consequences on the release schedule of other games. Like movies, which wish to avoid the same opening weekend as another blockbuster, publishers schedule their games to avoid clashes with other big titles.

In doing so, they prevent another game from overshadowing their release and suppressing sales. The same phenomenon resulted in over a dozen indie games being delayed due to the release of Team Cherry’s Silksong.

As such, GTA’s latest release will have publishers scrambling to reschedule their own 2026 to avoid clashing with Rockstar’s behemoth franchise.

One such title that may be affected is Marvel’s Wolverine. The superhero title, developed by Insomniac Games, the developers behind the Marvel Spider-Man games, is set to release in Q3/Q4 of 2026.

Insomniac’s devs may now face a rush to target that Q3 window, or face the risk of coinciding with Grand Theft Auto.

Other titles that may be considering a scheduling change include Action RPG Project Evilbane, Action MMORPG Chrono Odyssey, and even the next Call of Duty title.

Call of Duty titles typically release in October/November, with the latest title, Black Ops 7, releasing on November 14, 2025.

Currently, no CoD game is confirmed for 2026, but if the next title coincides with GTA VI’s release, it could have significant implications for the Call of Duty League’s esports circuit.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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