It's no secret that the GTA 6 launch will likely prove one of the biggest video game releases, well, ever – but that doesn't mean other developers have to fear being overshadowed by the Rockstar behemoth in November.
Veteran analyst and Circana games lead Mat Piscatella seems to believe as much, anyway, telling GamesBeat that some devs' worries about launching near GTA 6 might be a tad "overblown," so to speak.
"The fear of many teams to put their game in the same window as GTA is completely overblown," he says. "GTA is going to be a massive game. Of course it is." But that doesn't mean that literally everyone cares about it.
It's going to be a huge cultural event, but not every one of the 49 million people who own a PS5 or an Xbox Series in the US is going to be interested in that," as Piscatella puts it. "There are a whole bunch of people who are going to want to play other things."
For example, "There's a whole Switch market that's going to want to play other things because they won't be able to play Grand Theft Auto." And, you know, PC.
That's why Piscatella advises devs who aren't aiming for the same target audience that GTA 6 is to not worry – like "any kind of cozy game or life sim or first-person shooter." There's more to gamers' interests than Rockstar, after all. "Just because Grand Theft Auto is there doesn't mean there isn't a potential market to address."
Heck, I'm proof myself. I'm not too big on GTA, but I'm looking forward to a lot of November releases.
There's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake for one – but, alas, various other devs have also chosen to avoid next month as a potential launch window, as Piscatella predicted last year.
"Everyone's just scared," as the analyst says. "I guess I get it, but I just think it's completely overblown." Plus, it's, uh, "given GTA a completely wide-open window because everyone else moved," leaving it a bit bare in November release-wise, all things considered.
Piscatella concludes that "we'll see what happens, stating that he thinks "this is more fear than anything else." But, still, "We haven't seen a game this big in… literally 13 years!" It is one of those new games that everyone, fan or not, knows about, I suppose.
