Publishers are reportedly waiting to see if GTA 6 is actually launching in 2025 before they set their own release dates so they can stay far away from Rockstar

It's no secret that GTA 6 is one of the most anticipated new games on the horizon, and a new report claims it's such a behemoth that competing publishers are waiting to see if its fall 2025 release date stays before they commit to their own launch plans.

A report from Bloomberg puts into context just how monumental a release GTA 6 is primed to be. Its predecessor, GTA 5, has generated roughly $9 billion since its release in 2013 — more than the entire Final Fantasy franchise combined as well as the three highest grossing movies altogether. Meanwhile, the GTA 6 trailer that dropped a year ago has since garnered more than 200 million views on YouTube.

Citing sources familiar with the goings-on at other publishers, Schreier reports that "some competing game publishers" are putting off release date commitments to stay as far away from GTA 6 as possible. Those publishers are evidently waiting as long as they can to see whether GTA 6's release date slips into 2026 or if it stays within the current fall 2025 window.

Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive have largely stayed tight-lipped about GTA 6 this year, but former GTA veteran Obbe Vermeij recently projected the sequel will sell for more than 10 years and that, because it has no competition, Rockstar won't release it until it's 100% happy with it.

Analyst says 2025's GTA 6 and Nintendo Switch 2 combo is almost unprecedented: "I don't remember a year like this where so much of what's going to happen is focused on just two products"