If you've recently asked a monkey's paw for a Grand Theft Auto 6 release date, could I kindly ask that you spare us all from your remaining two wishes? Rockstar has finally confirmed a launch date for its upcoming crime caper, but here's the catch:澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: it's releasing on May 26, 2026 – missing out on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GTA 6's long-promised 2025 window.

As disappointing as the delay is, the writing has been on the wall. Rockstar's been radio silent even while 2024's months have trickled away, while parent company Take-Two had no issue penciling in Borderlands 4 to launch around the time that half the games industry assumed GTA 6 would be releasing. Given we've only just e📖ntered May of this year, the wait ahead is looking excruciating – but for many publishers and developers, the bogeyman has just left.

Open waters

Take a glance at our list of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:video game release dates for 2025, and you'll notice a pattern: there, er, aren't actually that many of them from July onward. Some of that can be attributed to the fact that 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Summer Game Fest, which has fast become a prime time to announce release dates, doesn't take place for another month. But a larger factor is that publishers have been scared to pit their darlings against GTA 6, which is guaranteed to eclipse anything unfortunate enough to launch in its shadow. The next Grand Theft Auto is, for those who pick up one or two releases at most each year, the upcoming gamᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚe. For publishers and developers, the safest course of action is to be nowhere near the blast zone whe♛never it drops.

Now, everything has changed. Not only does GTA 6 have a release date that publishers can safely plan around, but it's not even launching this year. The coveted September to December window – lucrative for its run-up to the holidays – is wide open, with just a few months' notice. With the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Switch 2 launching well before that period, it's open season. Those months currently look like a ghost town, but given the frankly ludicrous amount of big hitters with vague promises 🤪of launching in 2025, expect to see🌺 that fill out at lightning speed.

Need a refresher? 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally set to launch this year, while Xbox is yet to lock in dates for both 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Gears of War: E-Day and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Outer Worlds 2. Even Nintendo – the only company that could maybe take GTA 6's meteoric launch on the chin – has kept release dates for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Pokemon Legends Z-A and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Metroid Prime 4 under wraps. Th🌠ere are more (so many more), but you get the point.

As a result, expect to see a collective releasing of held breath. I would be shocked if the last quarter of 2024 didn't look fit to burst by the end of June, to the point where smaller studios may choose to avoid the feeding frenzy of AAA releases and instead save their titles for the first months of 2026. Consider the fact that Summer Game Fest may reveal even more titles launching this year, and we'll likely be playing every game but GTA 6 by Christmas.

Publishers will already be scrambling to fill that void, and I can only imagine the migraines brewing across the industry's various board rooms today. But there's another upshot of all this, and one I'm far more excited by: Game of the Year is b𓄧ack on the menu! The sheer hype surrounding GTA 6, along with the frankly wild expectations it carries – in part because we know so little about it – has meant that many people have been reserving the award for a game we haven't actually seen in action yet.

Now, the playing field is open. I spent the first months of 2025 wondering if 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 could have nabbed GOTY if it didn't have to go against Rockstar (澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:it remains my personal pick), and now I won't have to wonder. Sandfall Interactive is likely throwing a party over Rockstar's announcement – our own glowing 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review is just one of many. The Blue Prince missionaries are out in force (I've installed it, leave me be!), while AAA titans like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Avowed, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Assassin's Creed Shadows were all delights. That's not even counting presumed contenders yet to come. I promise I'm not trying to throw games at you, but 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mario Kart World? 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ghost of Yotei? It's hard to undersell just how unpreꦚdictable 202🍷5 is about to become.

As a gremlin who thrives on chaos, I'm looking at all of this and rubbing my hands. That said, I do feel for every sunken heart still grappling with GTA 6's delay. Even as someone who prefers Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption side over Grand Theft Auto, the prospect of w🎃aiting another year is agonizing. But if it's any consolation, Rockstar's bowing out has sparked one of the wildest years in gaming history, and it's sure to be entertaining if nothing else. Elvis has left the building – best of luck to whoever's on stage next.

Check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GTA 6 wishlist for everything we want to see make it in the game