Grand Theft Auto 6’s delay to November 2026 could see Sony and Microsoft delay their new PlayStation and Xbox consoles, one analyst believes.
On November 6, Rockstar Games broke Grand Theft Auto fans’ hearts once again, announcing that GTA 6 would be delayed until November 19, 2026. This, they said, “will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve.”
It is the second delay that GTA 6 has already suffered, and Rockstar acknowledged the “long wait” that fans have already had.
The delay followed Rockstar firing between 30-40 employees at studios in the UK and Canada, with developers who have been kept around ‘fearing’ another delay due to their former colleagues being fired.
Analyst worries GTA 6 could delay next PlayStation & Xbox
However, Piers Harding-Rolls, an analyst at Ampere, has been left questioning if the delay to GTA 6 will also delay the PlayStation 6 and Xbox’s new console.
A question I’m thinking about more progressively is this: Could the late arrival of GTA 6 have an impact on when next-gen consoles come to market?” he told GamesIndustry.biz, noting just how “important” GTA 6 is as a seller of consoles.
“Sony and Microsoft will have wanted a much earlier release than late 2026 so they could generate momentum earlier in the cycle. We are currently forecasting a next-gen PlayStation and Xbox to arrive in late 2027 – but might the console companies be tempted to get more from the current console generation by riding the GTA 6 wave and waiting until 2028?
“The fact that games are now cross-gen makes this less of a factor, perhaps, but such is the size of the GTA franchise, the launch timing will get all areas of the games business thinking about their product strategies.”
Consoles, obviously, aren’t the only platform on which GTA has been successful. PC players will likely have to wait a year once GTA 6 launches before it drop over there. However, consoles are the main choice for Grand Theft Auto players.
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