Barring any further delays, Rockstar Games will release Grand Theft Auto VI this November, and it’s expected to have a massive launch. The title’s debut looms so large that some have theorized other developers may change their own plans to stay out of the way. Craig Duncan, the head of Xbox Game Studios, said in an interview that a busy and competitive landscape is nothing new.
He told GamesRadar that Rockstar is “going to do what they’re going to do.” His job as the leader of Xbox Game Studios is to “do what we should do for the best of our games.” He reminded people that there are “always other games” that take up time and attention.
GTA 6 is not just another game, though. It’s coming to market with a mountain of hype behind it, and it’s projected to sell 40 million copies and generate $3 billion or more in the first year.
Beyond competition with other games, Duncan said Xbox competes with movies, music, and “all this other stuff” that people spend time and money on.
GTA 6 launches on November 19, 2026. That’s around the time some people are guessing that Microsoft might release Halo: Campaign Evolved to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the first game’s launch on November 15, 2001. That’s just conjecture though; Microsoft has not set a date for the game yet.
One company that is not afraid of GTA 6 is Devolver Digital, which has pledged to release a game on the same day as GTA 6. Ubisoft, meanwhile, has said GTA 6 is good for the gaming industry because a high-profile game like that will drive more people to gaming overall.