Publishers reportedly not nailing down release dates to avoid potential GTA 6 clash

The looming release of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6 is reportedly causing unease amongst some competing publishers.

The next entry in the open-world crime franchise, which has sold over 435 million lifetime units, is one of the industry’s most anticipated releases of all-time.

It’s the sequel to 2013’s Grand Theft Auto 5, which reached $1 billion in retail sales faster than other entertainment release in history and has sold over 205 million units, according to Rockstar owner Take-Two.

The company said last month that the game is on track to hit its previously announced fall 2025 release window. And according to Bloomberg’s sources, rival game publishers are waiting as long as possible to commit to their release dates for next fall.

They want to see if GTA 6 will make its deadline or be delayed until 2026, with the goal being to put significant distance between the release of their own games and Rockstar’s, it’s claimed.

Take-Two has itself said it’s planning to avoid clashes for its biggest titles, which also include next year’s Borderlands 4.

“I think it’s safe to say that we wouldn’t, and no one would, stack up huge releases unnecessarily,” CEO Strauss Zelnick told Variety last month.

Take-Two confirmed today that the first Borderlands 4 gameplay will be revealed at The Game Awards on December 12.