Rockstar Games has delayed Grand Theft Auto VI, and that's going to have negative ramifications on the total video game industry market. That's according to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, who discussed these negative consequences in a new interview.
Speaking to GamesRadar, Piscatella said GTA 6 is a mass-market game that is expected to bring back lapsed console players and will help sell PlayStation and Xbox consoles in general. A similar phenomenon was observed with CFB 25 last year. EA hadn't released a college football game since 2013, and there was a lot of pent-up demand for CFB 25.
For GTA 6, not only is expected to lift console sales, Piscatella it could bring growth overall to the video game market and might also "reinvigorate investor interest" following a period of investment firms scaling back in terms of funding video games and studios.
So with GTA 6 being delayed, Piscatella said, "I don't think anyone benefits in 2025 from this push." He added: "It wasn't looming over the holiday season; it was going to be a big driver of what success potential the holiday season had."
Now that GTA 6 is no longer coming in 2025, Piscatella said he is projecting total spending on the video game market in the US to fall in the "mid single-digit percentage range." Spending could fall to the lowest since before the pandemic, he said.
Piscatella went to say on social media that GTA 6 being delayed to 2026 does not mean there will suddenly be a "whole bunch of other dollars available for other games" this year. "It just means that a bunch of the dollars that would have been spent on gaming this year have disappeared," he said.
Before this, Piscatella said he predicted that the launches of GTA 6 and Switch 2 in 2025 would help lift total video game industry sales in 2025. He also said GTA 6 is the single most important video game release in history.
Although GTA 6 is no longer coming in 2025, Take-Two still has Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country on tap for this year, in addition to its roster of sports titles. Across the industry overall, it's expected that Activision will launch in a new Call of Duty game this year, while the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World are no doubt expected to help lift total video game industry sales. There is also a possibility of Battlefield 6 coming this year, but that's not confirmed.
GTA 6 was originally set to release in Fall 2025 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, but it's now set for launch on May 26, 2026.
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Speaking to GamesRadar, Piscatella said GTA 6 is a mass-market game that is expected to bring back lapsed console players and will help sell PlayStation and Xbox consoles in general. A similar phenomenon was observed with CFB 25 last year. EA hadn't released a college football game since 2013, and there was a lot of pent-up demand for CFB 25.
For GTA 6, not only is expected to lift console sales, Piscatella it could bring growth overall to the video game market and might also "reinvigorate investor interest" following a period of investment firms scaling back in terms of funding video games and studios.
So with GTA 6 being delayed, Piscatella said, "I don't think anyone benefits in 2025 from this push." He added: "It wasn't looming over the holiday season; it was going to be a big driver of what success potential the holiday season had."
Now that GTA 6 is no longer coming in 2025, Piscatella said he is projecting total spending on the video game market in the US to fall in the "mid single-digit percentage range." Spending could fall to the lowest since before the pandemic, he said.
Piscatella went to say on social media that GTA 6 being delayed to 2026 does not mean there will suddenly be a "whole bunch of other dollars available for other games" this year. "It just means that a bunch of the dollars that would have been spent on gaming this year have disappeared," he said.
Before this, Piscatella said he predicted that the launches of GTA 6 and Switch 2 in 2025 would help lift total video game industry sales in 2025. He also said GTA 6 is the single most important video game release in history.
Although GTA 6 is no longer coming in 2025, Take-Two still has Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country on tap for this year, in addition to its roster of sports titles. Across the industry overall, it's expected that Activision will launch in a new Call of Duty game this year, while the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World are no doubt expected to help lift total video game industry sales. There is also a possibility of Battlefield 6 coming this year, but that's not confirmed.
GTA 6 was originally set to release in Fall 2025 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, but it's now set for launch on May 26, 2026.
Source