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The industry is collectively bracing itself for GTA 6 this November. It's going to be tough for other games to get a look in as Rockstar's latest open-world sandbox is set to dominate the zeitgeist. One unbothered team is those behind Phantom Blade: Zero, who're only concerned with making sure their game is as good as it can be.
"Many people may think we have some marketing strategy to move it from the overcrowded September, and some are very worried that it's closer to November," Qiwei "Soulframe" Liang, the upcoming action RPG's director, tells PC Gamer. "We don't think about any of this. We only think of the quality of the product itself. I don't think competition can influence, much, the success of a work. Only the product itself matters."
There are a lot of games coming out in September, all trying to carve out a little time before the newest Grand Theft Auto sucks up everyone's attention. The Blood of Dawnwalker, Marvel's Wolverine, Silent Hill: Townfall, Control: Resonant, Halloween: The Game – it's a serious month.
Phantom Blade: Zero is now scheduled for October 29 after being moved from its previous September 9 release date, making it closer to GTA 6 than many studios would clearly be comfortable with, and at the tail end of another stacked few weeks. But developer S-Game is totally unbothered. "We don't even think of the competition, what's launching ahead or after," Liang adds. "What matters is how polished the game is, and if we have one or two extra months, we can fix more bugs, do more optimizations, so that we don't need a huge day one patch."
He definitely has the right idea about polishing up the project. In the run-up to shipping, it's always better to be heads down on bug fixes and the like, rather than being too concerned about whatever else is going on. That said, Phantom Blade: Zero is a blockbuster game, and being anywhere near GTA 6 is like releasing a bigger budget film near the next Avatar or Avengers – the player pool will inevitably be smaller than normal.
But then again, Phantom Blade: Zero's got a more specific appeal than the next Grand Theft Auto. Maybe it'll be helpful to provide an alternative for people who aren't into sandbox thrillers. I'm looking forward to both, though I expect Phantom Blade's bosses will probably take me longer to beat than whatever Rockstar asks of me.
