A reader makes some predictions about the launch of GTA 6 next year and how it may help and hinder other games and companies.
Maybe I haven’t been paying attention enough, but I was absolutely shocked when I read about GTA 5 having sold over 200 million now. Last time I looked it was vaguely around 100 million, which is crazy enough, but to be more than 100 million ahead of anything even vaguely comparable (PUBG and Mario Kart 8 on 70+ million) is just crazy. It’s like the Avatar of the video games industry but dominating even harder.
Obviously, that’s over three generations but there’s no way to downplay the game’s achievements, it’s incredible and the only thing that’s going to stop it is GTA 6. Except I doubt that’ll stop it either, it’s not like sales are suddenly going to drop to zero, especially given the game is next gen only.
Things are getting a bit heavy in gaming at the moment, what with all the job cuts and Xbox and PlayStation not seeming to have a clue, but at this point I think it’s out of their control. They haven’t got the games to affect console sales or anything else at the moment or in the near future, but Rockstar has. When GTA 6 comes out next year that is going to change everything.
You don’t need me to tell you that GTA 6 is the most anticipated game of all time. GTA 5 has been selling for over 10 years now and 200 million people is an unbelievable amount of fans to be sitting there waiting for a new game to be released. Imagine if just 10% of GTA 5’s players bought the game in the first week, that would be 20 million in just a few days. Most games feel good if they do a couple of million in their whole lifetime.
The release of GTA 6 is going to be like nothing the world has ever seen. That sounds crazy but just think about: games already outsell music and cinema and that’s just ordinary hits like Halo or Mario. The most anticipated sequel in the best-selling franchise ever is going to be like a meteor hitting pop culture, it’s going to make Marvel and Star Wars seem like obscure cult hits.
It’s also going to do wonders for sales of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. If I were Sony, I’d have been saving up all my pennies to make a deal with Rockstar for exclusive content and/or a console bundle, maybe with the original version and the PS5 Pro. That would sell like hot cakes, because so many people are going to buy a next gen console just for GTA 6.
It’ll be ironic because Microsoft wasted all that money on Activision Blizzard, but they’d probably have done much better making a deal with GTA 6. Somehow though, I don’t think anyone’s going to give Phil Spencer another couple of billion to do that. And yet for Sony that is something they can afford.
There is a downside to all this though and it’s what’s going to happen to any other games released at the same time or, like, in the same decade. Now we know GTA 6 will be out in the autumn, Nintendo better hope they get the Switch 2 out in the spring, as rumoured. They’ve got the least amount of crossover concern but even then, people are going to be spending time and money on GTA 6 and not Nintendo games.
For everyone else though, you can just forget about it. Especially with casual gamers who’s going to be spending money on a new Assassin’s Creed or Monster Hunter or whatever other normally big franchise is out next year? They’re just minnows compared to GTA 6 and they and everything else are going to be absolutely crushed.
Not only that but because of GTA Online 2, or whatever they call it, there’s going to be no end to the GTA mania. It’s going to sell and sell forever, and people are going to be playing it forever. Not only will it eclipse all normal games, it’s going to put a massive dent in things like Fortnite and Apex Legends as well. In the end it’s not even a question of saving or destroying the industry, for at least the first year or so GTA 6 will be the games industry.
By reader Hammeriron
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