Is GTA 6 really out this year?

Cliff Notes – Is GTA 6 really out this year?

• The recent rescheduling of Borderlands 4 is widely interpreted as a strategic move by Gearbox to avoid competition with GTA 6, suggesting a release window for the latter in late September or early October 2023.

• Observers note that no other game is likely to attract attention during GTA 6’s launch, indicating its significant impact on the gaming landscape and the decisions of other developers.

• The anticipation surrounding GTA 6 is further heightened by speculation regarding the release of the Switch 2, with Nintendo potentially aiming for a summer launch to precede GTA 6’s arrival on the new console.

Games Inbox: Is GTA 6 really out this year?

GTA 6 – Borderlands 4 is a big clue to its release date (Rockstar Games)

The Wednesday letters page thinks 2027 is too soon for the PS6 and next gen Xbox, as one reader gets very excited about Mario Kart World.

Making way
I don’t know who Gearbox think they’re fooling with this ‘reverse delay’ for Borderlands 4 but there is no way they changed the release date for any reason other than GTA 6. Like GC said, what difference is 11 days going to make, if it was only because the game was ahead of schedule?

Now they’ve got to change all their marketing, hope fans and retailers get the memo, and all for zero benefit. There’s no way they did this because they wanted to.

So, as far as I’m concerned, that confirms that GTA 6 is out this year and is going to be out somewhere in late September or early October. Which is exactly what you’d assume it was going to be all along.

Maybe it’s a bit later than that – I’m not sure what sort of blast radius Take-Two thinks Borderlands 4 has to escape to – but I don’t think it’s going to help. Nobody is going to be playing Borderlands 4 when GTA 6 has just come out.
Cocomo

No Switch too
I bet Rockstar are loving this. Not only is every game developer trying to stay out of their way, but it seems Nintendo are as well. The only other reason I’m thinking that Nintendo are doing a summer release is GTA 6 will be out on the Switch 2 and they want the console out before it’s out, for a good three to six months.

No other game is going to be entertained unless you’re not a fan of GTA, which isn’t that many.
David

GC: We’re pretty sure that’s not the reason.

Generation Why
I know it’ll have been seven years for this gen, by the time we get to 2027, which is about right for a console generation, but there is no way that the PlayStation 6 and new Xbox aren’t going to be seen as too early by everyone.

The Switch will be over eight years old when it’s replaced, and it has achieved so much. Classic after classic, almost every franchise has had its best entry ever, and the hardware is starting to show its age. It absolutely needs to be replaced and everything I’ve seen of the Switch 2 so far shows it to be a very well thought out follow-up.

What is the PlayStation 6 even going to do? You can guarantee there’ll be very little improvement in graphics, so what then? We’re not at plugging it into your brain levels of tech yet so I really don’t see what could possibly justify. They’ve got a handheld as well, according to the rumours, but that sounds like it’s just cut-down PlayStation 5 and remote player.

It’s not Sony’s fault exactly but we’ve just reached the end of what can be done with affordable hardware. In an ideal world that would mean concentrating on games, as Nintendo does, but I don’t know. That never seems enough for Sony and Microsoft and especially not Sony at the moment. I fear more gimmicks, more price rises, and more people being pushed towards the PC as a format.
Dio

Family set
I have managed to pre-order three Switch 2s.

Not for any nefarious scalping reason. One for me and one each for my two kids.

Another reader mentioned Currys and I did find this the ‘easiest’ to pre-order it from. Just go into a shop and pay.

My others are from Amazon and ShopTo and both were via an email of ‘you have 24 hours to complete your order’.

I missed the ShopTo email, but they fortunately sent me another one.

The experience probably echoes a lot of comments people have made about benefit of physical stores. Because, I will say, Currys was easiest.

All a moot point now, as pre-orders are all gone.
Si-Zero

Sales story
For the reader trying to get Golf Story for a good price, I recommend a website called Deku Deals which tracks prices of games both digital and physical.

It shows that the recent sale on Golf Story is the cheapest it’s been, but also that it goes on sale quite frequently and lately for around the same cheap price. This should mean you’ll be able to pick it up on sale once you have your Switch 2.

I use it to check any titles I’ve newly wishlisted to see if they go on sale often, how big a discount I might expect and whether it’ll be worth waiting for the drop.
Euclidian Boxes

GC: We’ve never heard of that site before, but it seems very useful.

Interactive TV
Hi, first time writer!

Have been a PlayStation owner since the PS1 and not had an Xbox since the Xbox 360.

I was really happy to hear about Indiana Jones and Forza Horizon 5 coming to the PlayStation, as those are the Xbox exclusive games I really wanted to play. I usually buy physical copies of games, so was a bit bothered about having to buy Indy digitally but was willing to do so having seen your positive review.

There was another game my five-year-old son wanted called Little Kitty, Big City, which again wasn’t on PlayStation.

So, to my surprise I got a notification on my LG TV that the Xbox app is now available to download. Once downloaded, it showed Game Pass available through the app, without the need for the Xbox console and for £14.99. With Indy and Little Kitty on Game Pass it was a no-brainer!

And I get to play both Forza games and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as well and all by connecting my DualSense to the TV. Everything has worked flawlessly so far and has saved me nearly £150 on the games I was going to purchase for my PlayStation.

Very surprised how effective cloud gaming via the TV is and excited to see where it goes from here!
Yas

Spend to save
Thank you to GC, for the advice in my letter yesterday. I’ve purchased Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom and it never crossed my mind that a £7.99 upgrade path was a possibility for Switch 2. I was oblivious to that crucial nugget of information.

Bought the game from Cash Generator instead of CeX, since it works out cheaper at £34.99. Once again, I appreciate the sentiment.
Shahzaib Sadiq

Beyond perfection
I can’t quite convey just how ridiculously excited I am about Mario Kart World. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was one of a handful of games this past decade and a bit that I’d consider a genuine 10/10 experience (alongside Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Super Mario Odyssey, Resident Evil 2 remake, and Bayonetta 2), so naturally my anticipation for the ninth entry in the esteemed series has been feverishly high.

I’ve been dreaming of a reinvention in the series since the last game, a Breath of the Wild/Ocarina Of Time/Super Mario 64/Metroid Prime moment, if you will. And one of my most wanted features was an adventure style mode, to add significant deviation and substance to the single-player process, à la Diddy Kong Racing.

But World has seemingly gone above and beyond this wish with its Test Drive Unlimited/Forza Horizon/Burnout Paradise influenced racing playgrounds. From what I’ve learned thus far from previews, the sense of vehicular adventure, creativity and emergent racing possibilities is a level above the aforementioned games, with a distinctly Nintendo approach to traversing the open world.

I’ve seen some purists already whinge that the shift to open world will feel incongruent and dilute the essence of Mario Kart and its looping, varied track design. But frankly I feel like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe virtually perfected that formula and so welcome this radical change and the sheer ambition of what Nintendo are attempting with World!
Galvanized Gamer

Inbox also-rans
What an odd thing for Larian to say about DLC, calling it ‘boring’. Isn’t it down to them whether it is or not? This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone suggest the whole concept of DLC is now good.
Latamore

I really hope Blizzard is planning to make Overwatch 3 because that will be such a disaster it’ll be hilarious to watch the fallout. They messed everything up with Overwatch 2 and just ploughing on regardless is not the answer. They need to take things back to what made the game great, not just add even more junk no one wants.
Crimp

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