As seemingly every game has decided to release in late September to avoid clashing with GTA 6, Palworld lead John "Bucky" Buckley jokes that he's going nuclear.
One common thread throughout the PlayStation State of Play earlier this week – and I suspect one we'll see throughout Summer Game Fest and the Xbox Games Showcase later this week – is that people really don't want to release around the same time as GTA 6. Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Control Resonant, and Silent Hill: Townfall are all set to release on September 24 and 25, while the following week has Rayman Legends Retold and Ace Combat 8. Meanwhile, November is almost completely devoid of game releases except for GTA 6.
Devolver Digital has remained insistent that no matter when it comes out, it will be publishing a game on the same day as GTA 6. However Pocketpair's head of publishing and communications has jokingly shared the idea of throwing a Hail Mary of every Palworld project currently announced out alongside GTA.
In a post on Twitter, Bucky says, "Gonna pull a remora, those little fish that swim under a sharks belly, and launch Palworld 1.0, Palfarm and the dating sim right alongside GTA 6." While a response says that "the fans want Palworld to do well at 1.0," he doubles down, saying: "Gonna press the release button 20s after GTA releases."
Gonna pull a remora, those little fish that swim under a sharks belly, and launch Palworld 1.0, Palfarm and the dating sim right alongside GTA 6 pic.twitter.com/3tDdt2BC1xJune 4, 2026
While Bucky is clearly joking, there is a point to be made that at this point you may actually be better off releasing a game alongside GTA 6 than trying to avoid it. The September and October 2026 release window is now packed to the gills, and I can see games like Control Resonant and Rayman Legends Retold struggling to pick up steam with the likes of Marvel's Wolverine and Onimusha: Way of the Sword – the latter of which is still niche in the grand scheme of things, but Pragmata has proven that Capcom itself is a draw thanks to years of sustained bangers.
On the other end of things, February 2027 is already looking like a bloodbath too, with Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Fable already delayed until then. And again, there's still the general Summer Game Fest, Xbox Games Showcase, and potentially a Nintendo Direct to go, so things are only going to get more crowded.
Of course, a lot of people are going to be busy playing GTA 6 when it launches in November, but what about those people who don't really care about it? Offering an alternative in what's already looking to be a month without any other major releases could work wonders in someone else's favor.
