The specter of a GTA 6 delay haunts the games industry: 'Some companies are going to tank' if they guess wrong, says analyst

a year ago by Tony Bark to c/games

Will GTA 6 actually release in 2025? It's what everyone in the business wants to know.
DoucheBagMcSwag 149 points a year ago

Take your console exclusive bullshit and shove it up your ass. I'll play it when it's on PC. And only on PC.

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technomad 56 points a year ago

I'll go a step further and say only when it's been vetted and discounted on PC.

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ampersandrew 39 points a year ago

This will probably be the last time it ever happens. They're trying to get people to double dip, and plenty will, but the console install base isn't what it was when GTA V came out at the end of a generation. Plus we all know full well that the PC version will happen, whereas in yesteryear, we weren't sure.

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Kelly 12 points a year ago

the console install base isn't what it was when GTA V came out at the end of a generation.

I had a look to check the figures.

From the PlayStation perspective February 2025 estimates put the PS5 at 74.9m, while January 2013 estimates put the PS3 at 77m.

However Xbox is really letting their numbers lag with 28.3m Series consoles sold by September 2024 vs 77.2m 360 consoles by April 2013.

If we were just talking PlayStation I would say 97% is near enough to make no difference but if we compare both platforms together its only 67% and that is enough to influence strategy. A console only release in 2025 is unlikely to eclipse GTA5's position as "fastest-selling entertainment product in history".

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SkyeStarfall 13 points a year ago

But also don't forget that the amount of gamers is larger today than in 2013. Gaming is much more mainstream, and so even 97% of the install base is still disappointing considering steam grew by, what, 3x or something in terms of average monthly users?

Another source I found is that the amount of total gamers grew by roughly 50% from 2013 to 2025. But yeah, I just did a quick skin numbers are not precise

But still, 97% is disappointing considering the general demographic was supposed to grow. And then, in reality, it's just 67% too

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DogWater 2 points a year ago

Yeah that's a good point.

If gaming grew and the total userbase is the same now, then it's smaller by percentage.

That must been that PC is just exploding in popularity over the time period in question.

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ampersandrew 4 points a year ago

A game like GTA is likely to drive console sales, but not enough to make up that deficit.

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CosmoNova 5 points a year ago

And only on PC

That's going to be a long wait my friend.

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ms_lane 13 points a year ago

I'd rather wait than buy a console for a single game that will barely hit 720p/30.

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ripcord -1 points a year ago

I think they mean it will never be PC only, so it'd be an infinite wait. Or maybe some future release version will be console only.

Also, "720p/30" lol

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tordenflesk 8 points a year ago

It's been the same for... ~25 years, since at least GTA3.

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CosmoNova 2 points a year ago

You can still play them on both console and PC and not only PC.

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AarynBlack 5 points a year ago
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Sunsofold 5 points a year ago path: 0 15921678 15929966 15938966, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
biscuit -11 points a year ago

I just don't have the patience to wait even more. I have a PS5, so why wouldn't I play it on release??

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DoucheBagMcSwag 19 points a year ago

Because I don't want console level performance when I play it for the first time

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zipzoopaboop 8 points a year ago

Because of backlogs and eventual price drops /sales

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Lightor 1 point a year ago

Because I don't want to play full price for a 1080p upscaled experience at 30fps. If it's a good experience then it will be worth the wait and that much better when it runs smoother, looks better, and loads faster. Plus it will have most of the bugs worked by then.

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Lost_My_Mind -4 points a year ago

Why would you want to pay $70 for a pay to win game at all?

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ampersandrew 28 points a year ago

There's a single player game people are pretty jazzed about, too.

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biscuit 4 points a year ago

Huh? For £70 I'm getting -

  • Huge open world
  • Very fun and emergent gameplay
  • Likely a world with multiple competing systems and subsystems to play with
  • Incredibly detailed world to get lost and immersed in
  • Given the RDR2 writing, likely a really well written story

But you've decided to latch onto one aspect of the previous game (the Online mode) to try to be as contrarian as possible?

I sure as heck will pay £70 for the above. And so will many millions of others. Sorry if that does a poo on your hate-train.

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_cryptagion 15 points a year ago
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massive_bereavement 9 points a year ago

I don't see any horse balls physics in your list.

Utterly unplayable.

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p03locke 9 points a year ago

Huh? For £70 I’m getting

Based on what? You don't actually know until it gets released. Sure, past history and reputation are certainly things to factor in, but we've seen plenty of major gaming companies shit the bed, despite their reputations.

Wait until it launches and the reviews come in.

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Screen_Shatter 4 points a year ago

Dude thats crazy. I havent paod full price for a game in years, have a little patience and you can get a bunch more games for that much.

Isthereanydeal.com

Games are always on sale.

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echodot 1 point a year ago

You hope you'll get those things. It's Rockstar though so who really knows. I mean we do know we're going to get a single player that's been confirmed by Rockstar but everything else is just a guess. The map leak people seem to suggest that the map will include NASA and Disneyland which will be cool I guess, but we don't know that that's just a prediction and I don't quite understand how they can predict that.

I just don't trust Rockstar not to screw it up with GTA online 2, now with more irritating flying bikes

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altima_neo 2 points a year ago

Or $100 ,as some people are predicting

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TheFriar -13 points a year ago

K

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boughtmysoul -14 points a year ago

K. You do that.

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Elkot 49 points a year ago

I don't know why but I couldn't give two shits about GTA6, maybe I'm just burned out on AAA games

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madcaesar 15 points a year ago

Because it will be full of micro transactions and bullshit content no-one asked for, with anti cheat horseshit that will pretty much be a virus on your computer.

Sad thing is that it'll still sell millions because most people don't even know when they are being served shit.

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Snowpix 4 points a year ago

No doubt it'll also have Denuvo, just to make the game run even worse too.

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tonytins 13 points a year ago

maybe I’m just burned out on AAA games

I know I am.

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MrFinnbean 4 points a year ago

Im completelly opposide. Its maybe only AAA game im intrested in long time.

Mostly because of their track record. I have been playing GTA since the very first top down game and every main game in the series has pushed the games further.

Thinking how big leaps every game has done, i cant wait to see what kind of the beast 6 is going to be.

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echodot 2 points a year ago

I just want trains to work in this new game. They never make trains work properly they're always just indestructible juggernauts and are therefore boring. GTA V had submarines but not drivable trains.

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PieMePlenty 3 points a year ago

I'm the same but I may just be getting older. Last game I was hyped for was Cyberpunk 2077 coming off of the stellar Witcher 3 and having followed both games I loved, W1 & W2. Sometime before it released, I just dropped all hype for it and haven't felt the same after. Haven't even played it yet either.

Today, I let myself be pleasantly surprised by games I never thought I'd like. I really liked Death Stranding and I'm waiting for its sequel but still no hype... I haven't even seen the trailer yet and I doubt I will... I'll buy it and go in blindly. Just have a PS for Sony's once a year AAA and that's it for AAA gaming. Most other days, its just AA or indie games on PC.. which is where I find a lot more flavor. As an example, this month, I've played Minami Lane, MudRunner and Art of Rally and starting Tactical Breach Wizards soon.

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boonhet 1 point a year ago

I'm holding out some hope for GTA VI still. Reason being, while Cyberpunk promised to be super duper everything interconnected magic programming to follow an absolutely awesome but technologically realistic game (Witcher 3), I haven't seen hype like that for GTA VI. The expectation is to get a well polished freeroam game with lots of fun toys to play around with, a story that's hopefully long enough to be worth the game's price, and a new Online mode that gets updates over time. Basically GTA V with a new city and a more polished game overall, but no exponential leaps - despite the fact that the budget is much larger than Cyberpunk.

But I mean MudRunner is also awesome. Couldn't get into Death Stranding myself, just wasn't feeling it. Should pick up Art of Rally soon. Tons of great AA and indie games out there if GTA VI flops indeed.

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Lightor 2 points a year ago

It's just so meh. Another city, you're a criminal doing crime. There are just games with much better stories or mechanics at this point. I don't get the hype around it.

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_cryptagion 40 points a year ago
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WarlordSdocy 5 points a year ago

That's cause the business side keeps pushing for increasingly unrealistic deadlines and will only accept delaying so much before forcing it out.

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biscuit 38 points a year ago

Weird vibes in this comment section.

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David_the_designer 54 points a year ago

They are all from players who are against things Rockstar did with GTA and what it represents for the industry. But they are not representative of the whole market.

The article is right about the impact for small studios. On the timeline for the game I'm working on, we have a prediction for GTA VI release with a big question mark and we hope to avoid it.

The problem is not that all players will spend $100 on the game. The problem is that the majority of the press coverage, Steam traffic, streamer time, etc. will focus on the topic. Even if there is bad press around GTA, that's still attention that is not on other games.

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neatchee 29 points a year ago

Exactly this. I work in the games industry as well and even big studios are falling over themselves NOT to release anywhere near GTA6.

Nobody believes there won't be people playing other games at that time. But it's going to dominate the media cycle for a month, especially if it is either better or worse than fans hope. And the reality is that many, many people have limited gaming budgets. If you've only got $100 to spend, GTA6 is very likely to be the default pick at that time.

It's a behemoth in terms of grabbing attention from both the media and players. All the best laid plans for a successful release can be completely derailed by a game like GTA6.

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tonytins 7 points a year ago

I really didn't know what to expect with this article. That being said, the industry holding their breath on GTA 6 is a bit much, to say the least.

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absquatulate 36 points a year ago

This is so strange. Wasn't it not long ago that studios were crowding into very specific release windows ( usually november iirc ) so they could maximize initial sales? Maybe the digital release era has changed things. I mean, I get it if your game was in the same niche or smth, but "companies might tank" seems a little much.

Either way, if this is true, eoy 2025 is in for a dry spell when it comes to new games.

Edit: Also I find it hilarious how all these "industry analysts" keep popping up suggesting ominous things despite Rockstar not saying a peep about the game besides the trailer. Almost as if they were paid to do it.

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lorty 15 points a year ago

Over time they realised that, while holiday windows or whatever have high sales, if there's a better or more popular game coming out then, yours will just be forgotten.

That said, most "industry specialists" are just glorified influencers, so take it with a grain of salt

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EncryptKeeper 10 points a year ago

They aren’t crowding into those windows because competition helps their sales, it’s because they expect the biggest shopping period of the year will result in more sales than they lose. And there’s a reason only the biggest titles release in these windows.

Capcom made the decision years ago to release in February/March because they know a November window will drown them.

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tonytins 9 points a year ago

Sure is a great way to stir the pot, that's for sure. This article raised my eyebrow so much I just had to share it.

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Wahots 34 points a year ago

Judging by all the shark card crap they jammed into the last GTA, I fully expect them to shovel a bunch of crap in to make more money: $70 base games, deluxe editions, DLC, micro transactions, social club integration, required internet connections, all of it.

I miss the old GTAs before they got greedy.

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explodicle 6 points a year ago

As an optimist, I expect more expansions like Gay Tony and for them to simply make fun of microtransactions on the radio.

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ripcord 0 points a year ago

Ah, full expansion DLC. That'd be nice.

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STUNT_GRANNY 1 point a year ago

Also, actual singleplayer content would be sweet.

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MossyFeathers 28 points a year ago

Wait, do people still get excited for GTA? I thought GTA V online killed a lot of goodwill for the series.

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biscuit 46 points a year ago

Are you seriously questioning whether there is any hype for GTA?

GTAV Online may have hindered Rockstar's goodwill for fans of the single player mode, but the Online mode rakes in cash.

RDR2 released in 2018 and is widely considered one of the best single player games with one of the best open worlds, strongly signalling to fans that Rockstar hasn't lost its mojo.

GTA VI is, unquestionably, the most anticipated game of the year. To suggest otherwise is to be insanely disingenuous on your part.

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warm 19 points a year ago

The main writers have since left Rockstar. Dan Houser left in 2020. I feel GTA will lose it's charm with this next entry, I hope I am wrong, but something just feels off. Either way, won't be buying it until it's on a good sale, reviews dependent too.

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biscuit 10 points a year ago

It's certainly going to be interesting how this game is received. Rockstar is one of those studios that burns all its goodwill with things like Online, the "Definitive" editions, RDR2 Online closing early, yet despite that it's the largest studio with one of the largest, most successful franchises.

With the industry being so dire right now, where only huge behemoths like rockstar, or tiny efficient indie studios, can really compete, the outcome of GTA 6 might be quite consequential for the industry.

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dumbass 3 points a year ago

They lost Lazlow... There goes the greatest radio DJ to ever grace the gta airwaves.

When they added purchasable clubs into online and you could get Lazlow to come to your club, I made it my entire goal to make him happy, I spent so much cash keeping him dancing, always made me sad seeing him sitting there alone as the reality of it all hit him.

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Kolanaki 0 points a year ago

All they ever did was riff on popular (crime) movies, and they were already scraping the bottom of the bin on that with 5. What popular movies in recent times has 6 even got to be inspired by?

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Moobythegoldensock 1 point a year ago

Really only Once Upon a Time in Hollywood comes to mind, but it’s not Scarface level popular.

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MossyFeathers -7 points a year ago

No, I'm honestly surprised. I've barely heard anything about GTA VI. Seriously. I don't care about it, none of my friends have talked about it despite being the kinda game that they'd be into, and I've only seen one or two articles on it.

You sure it's that highly anticipated? My observation is that people have gotten really sick and tired of AAA games, and this is a shift that's occurred since RDR2 came out. Very few of the people I know still regularly play AAA games, and those who do almost never buy them on launch. I haven't seen anywhere near the same amount of hype for GTA VI as I saw for GTA IV or GTA V.

You're accusing me of being disingenuous? Maybe you're the one who's buying into the hype and overestimating public interest. Or perhaps the true answer is somewhere in the middle. Who knows. I was not intentionally downplaying your favorite series though.

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biscuit 20 points a year ago

The article you're commenting on is literally about the game's unsustainable hype and its impact on the industry.

It won Most Anticipated at TGA.

This is far from my favourite series, just enjoy shining a light on insane takes on Lemmy!

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MossyFeathers -5 points a year ago

shrug Idk if it's really that insane. Tbh I'm not convinced the hype isn't being manufactured. I have a cousin who's a pretty bog standard, flavor-of-the-month gamer, and he's said nothing about GTA VI.

Not saying you're necessarily wrong, I guess, just that something seems off.

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TriflingToad 3 points a year ago

just a reminder that you live in a different culture than the average video game player. I haven't even completed GTA5 and aren't in the circle of GTA players. Hell, the funnest part for me is driving in a really big circle while listening to music, but as out of touch as I am, I know it's really REALLY hyped

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100 3 points a year ago

yeah not really interested to buy it outside of a sale when its obvious they will go overdrive on online revenue in 6

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Lost_My_Mind 2 points a year ago

It did. I've been a GTA player since the first one kn PS1.

I've bought every GTA game.

I have zero interest in GTA6.

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SomGye 4 points a year ago

Same here. GTAV, while I liked it, was a minor disappointment for me and I burned out on it. Plus after seeing how GTA Online went and how greedy they got with it, I'm just not interested in Take Two/Rockstar games anymore.

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Pika 2 points a year ago

not to mention they decided to block Linux users back in October. I had very little interest in it in the last 6 or 7 years, but I decided when a friend played it I would try to join, just to be met with performance issues and getting kicked offline due to their anticheat. So stupid. It worked for years in Linux, then they just decide to boot it.

I lost what little interest period in anything GTA from that.

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FinishingDutch 25 points a year ago

Companies need to grow a spine. Good games sell regardless of what’s out. If your confidence in your own game is so low that you’d push it to a slow release date, it’s probably not worth playing anyway.

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EncryptKeeper 19 points a year ago

I don’t know about that one. Games are expensive these days and if your game releases anywhere near the rumored $100 GTA 6, a LOT of people are going to have to choose one or the other, and it’s very unlikely that in most cases they don’t choose GTA6, literally the most anticipated video game of the last decade. Sure you can always buy the smaller game later, but a huge part of the sales of video games is the opening week, when all the hype around it has had time to come to a head, and you’re influenced by the fact that lots of other people are playing it.

Yeah good games will always sell SOME copies. But if you thinking that a game even releasing in the same month as GTA6 won’t have a permanent impact on that games sales, you’re smoking the reefer.

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silverlose 5 points a year ago

I think what you’re saying is true but perhaps you’re both talking about different things. I think you’re speaking about the reality of the situation whereas the comment OP is talking about the risk averse nature of large game studios. I don’t think it’s the same thing.

Also, I think I’m part of a growing minority but if gta 6 reviews are bad I’m not buying it until I hear it’s been fixed. I’ve been burned so many times 😭

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EncryptKeeper 10 points a year ago

It’s the exact same thing actually. Their claim was:

Good games will sell regardless of what’s out

But that’s just not true, and game studios of all sizes know that. The risk aversion of these companies exist because of the reality of the situation.

It also has nothing to do with a studios confidence in their game. The quality of a game is light years away from being the sole objective indicator of a games sales. The Outer Wilds is objectively one of the greatest games ever made and has no real peers in what it does. And yet it didn’t make nearly the sales numbers as the latest asset flipped Call of Duty game.

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Sylvartas 1 point a year ago

The Outer Wilds was a first game from an indie studio. On this basis alone it was practically guaranteed to not get the success it deserved. And it does deserve a ton of it.

Conversely, call of duty is literally one of the most notorious franchises in the entire industry, and pretty much sells on its name alone.

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silverlose 1 point a year ago

Fair enough - I stand corrected

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Breezy 5 points a year ago

You cant trust reviews. For example dragon's dogma 2 which i just picked up is a great game. But some people wouldn't know it based a lot of criticism and bad reviews it recieved when it launched.

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silverlose 4 points a year ago

Ehh yeah that’s a whole other can of worms. By “reviews”, for me, I mean a bunch of different sources.

And I do that because you’re correct! Trust in those is low.

So “reviews” maybe isn’t the right word. Just tryna keep the comment simple.

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Ibuthyr 3 points a year ago

I know I am buying it once the price goes down considerably. Wasn't it rumoured to start with 3 digits? I'm a patient gamer.

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deadfatquarterzip -3 points a year ago

I'm buying it regardless of reviews. Which are gonna be amazing anyway but still. I paid full price for Forspoken and actually really enjoyed it. I like the Kojima attitude of (for him it was a bookstore) picking something blindly that calls out to you. It might be amazing, it might be shit, but you learn something from everything you engage with. I just like the surprise of trying something I've got a lukewarm interest in and enjoying it a lot. Horizon Lego Adventures and Lost Records Bloom and Rage impressed me recently

Course I play games to play them, not complain about them online all day. And most of the time I enjoy what I find

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silverlose 4 points a year ago path: 0 15958759 15960260 15960728 15982000 15986402, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
Sylvartas 0 points a year ago

if you thinking that a game even releasing in the same month as GTA6 won’t have a permanent impact on that games sales, you’re smoking the reefer.

Maybe they should stop trying to peddle bland-ass live service games that live and die by their players numbers then. A good solo game might take a hit to its initial sales but should recover in the long run.

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EncryptKeeper 3 points a year ago

A good solo game might take a hit to its initial sales but should recover in the long run.

It won’t though. This feel-good theory that if a game is “good” then it’ll just make the same amount of money it always would have otherwise is not supported by any real world evidence. And even the most hypothetically high quality, ethical, game making company is still a company in the end, and companies need to money to pay living wages and keep people employed making new games. And if the games they are putting out are high quality, they probably have competent leadership. And competent leadership isn’t going to gamble the future of their company and livelihoods of their employees on an unproven feel-good fantasy espoused only by people on Reddit and Lemmy who’ve never run a business before.

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Sylvartas -2 points a year ago

If the game is good, doesnt need an active playerbase to survive (ie isn't entirely based on multiplayer), and the company is already reputable, it has no reasons to not sell decently in the long run. Also if an (already established) company's future is jeopardized by a single game not doing well, I'm sorry but it's not well managed. Ask me how I know.

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pyre 8 points a year ago

that's not true. games can absolutely get fucked by release dates coinciding with big names. and have.

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deadfatquarterzip 1 point a year ago

The two Horizon games picked really shitty weeks to release on lol. I think that's done significant damage to the player base. They're not groundbreaking games, but still extremely well done (imo)

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gamermanh 0 points a year ago

Ask Titanfall 2 how well launching between Battlefield and CoD went for them

Release dates of big games matter, people only have so much disposable income

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echodot 23 points a year ago

I'm not quite sure why they're so concerned. I suspect they're actually not and this is just things "analysts" say.

I suspect that the release of GTA VI is going to be lukewarm compared to the release of GTA V, because everyone remembered what Rockstar did to GTA V. People are going to wait around and see how they handle GTA online because they need to do better than last time because last time was ridiculous.

I'm certainly not all that interested in getting it day one and I know a lot of other people aren't either.

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Kelly 11 points a year ago

GTA5 is more than a decade ago,.

The older gemers may remember but there is a whole generation that has spung up since.

Edit: a quick look shows there were 1.7 billion people born between 1995 and 2007 i.e. born in the period that would have trurned 18 between 2013 and 2025.. This corresponds to 20% of the global population.

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Allero 10 points a year ago

Nice of you to assume there are no underage players of GTA V

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AntiOutsideAktion 2 points a year ago

born between 1995 and 2007 i.e. born in the period that would have trurned 18 between 2013 and 2015

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KageNoShinobi 10 points a year ago
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echodot 11 points a year ago

There's absolutely zero reason to pre-order the bonuses you get are never worth it and it's not like they're going to run out. Hell I didn't pre-order GTA V and I got it day one on both PS3 and Xbox 360 but just walking into a store on lunch time. And that was a physical media now everything's gone digital is even less reason to pre-order.

So I'll not be pre-ordering regardless, but I wouldn't be pre-ordering anyway because I don't trust Rockstar anymore. I'm not saying that the game will be bad I'm just saying I don't trust Rockstar fully anymore. I also don't trust CDPR anymore because of cyberpunk. Yeah they fixed it but so what, I don't want to be encouraging that kind of release strategy. Same thing with hello games, If they want people to go back to buying their games by default, these companies have to release some whoppers with zero issues day one to get back their reputation.

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KageNoShinobi 9 points a year ago
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gamermanh -1 points a year ago

because everyone remembered what Rockstar did to GTA V

Released a fantastic game worth replaying multiple times?

GTA Online =/= GTA V

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echodot 0 points a year ago

Oh yeah with all that DLC oh wait

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TriflingToad 21 points a year ago

controversial take, but I hope they do delay it. Better a good game late than a bad game early. As big as this release is, it HAS to be good.

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mic_check_one_two 9 points a year ago

Yeah, the Witcher 3 release should have taught the game publishers this. CDPR delayed the launch by several months because the game wasn’t ready to ship yet. And the game was phenomenal, and received rave reviews pretty much across the board. Gamers were disappointed about the launch, but basically went “this game will be worth the wait.”

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SuperSaiyanSwag 17 points a year ago

Funny how CDPR themselves then had a major fuck up with Cyberpunk

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Peffse 8 points a year ago path: 0 15934157 15935170 15936721, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 4
mic_check_one_two 7 points a year ago

I’d argue that is just another example of why delaying games isn’t a bad thing. 2077 clearly wasn’t ready at launch, and would have benefitted from a delayed launch.

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CheeseNoodle 5 points a year ago

I feel like that one was also due to awful development practices, they had the whole scrapping the entire first 2 years of work thing due to a control freak lead dev who was ultimately releaved of his position (though not until after release iirc)

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ayyy 1 point a year ago

I wouldn’t call it a success yet. I just started playing it for the first time yesterday and I have already fallen through the floor twice and the camera was broken causing seizure inducing visuals in one of the cutscenes.

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Peffse 3 points a year ago

It's right there in the link. It sold more than Witcher 3, even though it did the wrong thing by releasing early and buggy.

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mostNONheinous 1 point a year ago

You realize that rockstar basically invented this strategy right? Almost every release since vice city or San Andreas has been delayed by 6 months to a year to be the best game possible.

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explodicle 5 points a year ago

I just assumed game companies had been doing that since the 1800's.

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mostNONheinous 3 points a year ago

Sure you can argue standard practice has been and should be to deliver a finished game first and foremost. But in the context of modern gaming and setting release dates, Rockstar has historically been unafraid to change a release date to make a better game. But yes before the internet and the ability to patch a game it was standard to make sure your game didn’t suck before letting it loose.

And my comment was more to point out that using CDPR as a shining beacon of consistently solid game releases is laughable, especially when comparing them to Rockstar.

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Moobythegoldensock 14 points a year ago

While at one point GTA was my favorite series and I was absolutely hyped for GTA V, I’m not for this one. I kind of feel like I’m getting a little old for GTA.

Maybe I’ll change my mind after it releases and there’s a good chance I’ll play it anyway, but right now… meh.

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Sektor 13 points a year ago

I'll wait until it gets free on Epic and proceed not playing it, since i have better things to do with my life.

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andyburke 10 points a year ago

They want $100 for this. They are trying to make games expensive again.

In my mind, the bigger and more expensive the dev team, the more likely the business people are to be involved. Those business types really know how to suck fun and fairness out of games in an attempt to turn it into unbridled profits.

Buy a handful of games from small independent studios instead of this if you feel similarly to me.

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MrFunkEdude 12 points a year ago

Was the $100 price ever confirmed? I thought it was just rumored?

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Kolanaki 9 points a year ago

The only thing Rockstar has ever officially released about the game is the teaser trailer. Everything else is pure speculation and rumormilling.

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DoucheBagMcSwag 6 points a year ago

Gaming industry pundits are gooning so hard for the prospect of $100.00 standard games they keep parroting this out hoping it will become true

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andyburke -18 points a year ago

Are you asking me if I can predict the future?

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biscuit 28 points a year ago

Well since you're posting "they want $100 for this" so matter-of-factly, you seem to believe that you can predict the future, Andy.

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neatchee 4 points a year ago

Fun facts incoming!

Cost of "Mario 64" on release = $59.99

Development budget for Mario 64 = ~$1.56mil

Inflation adjusted Mario 64 cost in 2022 = $111.91

Inflation adjusted Mario 64 budget in 2022 = ~$2.91mil

Cost of "Elden Ring" on release = $59.99

Estimated dev. budget for Elden Ring = $100mil-200mil

Mario 64 units sold = ~12mil

Elden Ring units sold = ~28mil

These details are provided without comment. You do the math and decide whether the fact that prices haven't changed since 1996 might be the reason for some of the enshitification we continue to see.

And now for the comment:

Consumers are horrifyingly resistant to price increases for games. It is directly responsible for many of the shitty monetization models we've seen. Development budget continue to rise, even on indie games, while consumers pay less and less in "real money value" over time.

It's completely unsustainable and the very reason the "business types" get involved, forcing unpopular monetization schemes

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Kolanaki 9 points a year ago

And yet, these days I am finding better games, made by smaller teams, for lower prices (usually between $30-40) from indie devs. The cost ain't the reason for enshittification, and paying a higher price will not mean we get better games.

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neatchee 4 points a year ago

I simply chose two big, well known, and beloved titles for the sake of expediency.

This problem is not unique to big budget games.

Indie devs are getting screwed too. You saying that you've found great games for $30-40 from indie devs isn't an argument against more sustainable pricing like you think it is.

If the dev budget for the indie game was 5% of the AAA game but the price was 50% then you've literally just helped prove my point

The fact is - and I challenge you to prove me wrong here - video games continue to be hands down the best dollar-per-hour investment for entertainment. Even a $60 game that only lasts 20 hrs is still coming in at $3/hr of entertainment, which is very hard to beat. When you look at live service games where people will spend literally thousands of hours after paying anywhere from $60-200 you're looking at $0.10/hr in some cases.

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ms_lane 3 points a year ago

This is where it's at now, 'smaller' teams that actually care about the thing they're making.

We don't need games made by teams of 19,000 people like AC:Shadows, it's bloat. Skyrim was made with a team of less than 300.

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ampersandrew -1 points a year ago

If you like bigger games, and plenty do, them charging a higher price for it up front makes it more likely that they're made sustainably. If a game costs $100M to make, the difference between breaking even on $70 versus $60 is hundreds of thousands of additional customers.

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ms_lane 5 points a year ago

You're very conveniently and likely deliberately leaving out that more than 1/2 the cost for Mario 64 was manufacturing the cartridge...

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petrol_sniff_king 3 points a year ago

We're still talking about ~3 mil to ~150 mil. If the software dev costs for Mario 64 were closer to ~1.5 mil, what does that have to do with the argument being made?

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neatchee 2 points a year ago

I almost replied from my inbox; glad someone said it before I even got to it haha

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Zorque 4 points a year ago

Now throw in average incomes on the low, medium, and high ends and see if that makes any difference in your criticism of people not wanting to spend so much on a game they might get a hundred or so hours out of.

Hell, throw in the average housing costs and costs of consumables while we're at it.

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neatchee 1 point a year ago

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the capital structure is fair by any means. I understand all the reasons why people - especially right now - are struggling to justify big purchases.

And I will readily agree that inefficient and improper use of resources is one of the contributing factors to ballooning development budgets

That said, video games are - and I challenge you to disprove this - easily one of the best investments for entertainment. Dollars-per-hour of fun on a 20hr, $60 game is $3. For a live service game where people spend hundreds of thousands of hours playing it can get below $0.10 per hour.

EDIT: I also agree that demos need to make a comeback because I'm sick of wasting money. Though people also need to read some reviews before they buy occasionally :/

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massive_bereavement 3 points a year ago

Cartridge manufacturing and distribution was hella expensive back then and that took a big bite on any sales.

Digital storefronts do take as well their lion share though, but that's on sales.

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neatchee 2 points a year ago

While that may be true, the costs and budgets we're dealing with today are orders of magnitude higher than they were back then. Physical product manufacturing doesn't even come close to making up the difference when you factor in digital storefront costs.

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TriflingToad 3 points a year ago

meh, I don't think that the reason AAA games are bad is because they cost less. I think it's just greed and rushing the developers.

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neatchee 3 points a year ago

I never said anything about the quality of the games. I'm speaking specifically to the monetization bullshit.

As I said elsewhere: budget bloat happens in a lot of places. Greedy executive and publishers is one place. Overambitious design goals that get scrapped is another. There's also bad tools workflows, mismanagement, and any number of other contributing factors.

But even indie devs are getting screwed on pricing and making far less than they deserve to be in many cases.

If people keep buying CoD and Assassins Creed, devs will keep making them. And if they can't increase retail price to cover the budget they will find other ways to do it.

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TriflingToad 2 points a year ago

oh, in that case yeah that's fair, I agree

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petrol_sniff_king 1 point a year ago

You realize that costing more does satiate the greed a little bit, right?

Like, yeah, we all know that line-goes-up capitalism isn't sustainable, but there are still other reasons call of duty has loot boxes and battle passes now.

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ampersandrew 3 points a year ago

They'd ask $1000 for it if they thought people will pay it. No one at Take Two or Rockstar has said this. Most likely is they'll do that $100 "advance access" thing that a lot of AAA games like to do, where you get the game a few days early. The business hasn't gotten in the way of the fun or fairness of the campaign mode for Rockstar's previous efforts, and if it did this time, we'll certainly hear about it immediately.

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HeavyRaptor 1 point a year ago

$100 seems like a stretch to me as they have been giving the last game away for free several times on Epic. But who knows with the console crowd...

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gamermanh 3 points a year ago

What's with half the commenters acting like GTA V isn't a great game?

Y'all know GTA Online is a different game technically, yeah? The single player of GTA V is still there and even better now that Enhanced is on PC. Rockstar didn't fuck Up RDR2s single-player Mode so why assume they would on this?

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vxx 1 point a year ago

Even GTA Online was fantastic. There's so much to do and the heists and races were a lot of fun. I think I had more fun playing online than in the single player mode. I definitely put more time into it.

Shark cards never bothered me because I never got one.

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gcheliotis 2 points a year ago

I still haven’t played GTA5. Does it hold up (single-player) all those years later?

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C45513 2 points a year ago

gameplay-wise, yeah absolutely. writing-wise, pretty alright, some hits and some misses. kinda like south park.

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gcheliotis 2 points a year ago

I remember liking GTA4 but getting burned out on its archaic in my view mission design.

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WhatSay -1 points a year ago

Who cares when it releases, you know it's gonna be crap.

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SplashJackson -1 points a year ago

More like the sphincter of GTA 6 am I right?

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Kolanaki -2 points a year ago

If your game can't even complete with a game nobody knows anything about and doesn't even have a set release date, maybe your game just fucking sucks?

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kboy101222 10 points a year ago

I do wanna point out that one of the Horizon games (I believe the second) got pretty screwed by releasing within a week of Elden Ring and didn't suck. Publishers big and small do need to be careful to not release within a time frame of absolutely massive releases such as Elden Ring and, inevitably, GTA6.

Even if the game doesn't let you play on release day, I'm willing to bet my kidney that it'll sell millions of copies and nothing big will be released within a month of it

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SuperSaiyanSwag 2 points a year ago

And the first game released close to Breath of the Wild

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kboy101222 1 point a year ago

Oh yeah, I forgot just how bad the timing of both releases were. Didn't the second games dlc also drop right around Shadow of the Erdtree?

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SuperSaiyanSwag 1 point a year ago

A spinoff game, Horizon Call of the Mountain, which is a VR game

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p03locke 5 points a year ago

Release timing is always a critical thing to think about, whether you're talking about games, movies, TV series, or toys.

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ampersandrew 4 points a year ago

"Just make good games" doesn't really work in the age where we've got tens of thousands of game releases per year compared to the age of a few hundred games per year.

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ms_lane 0 points a year ago

Well making bad games isn't working so well either is it...

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ampersandrew 1 point a year ago

The failure of a game doesn't come hand in hand with it being bad. Lots of studios are struggling right now, because there's just so much out there, and no one wants to compete with GTA.

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deadfatquarterzip -30 points a year ago

I'd pay over $100 for GTA6 personally. And microtransactions aren't out of the question for me either. I don't have nearly as much time as money these days. Not that I have a lot of money, but I'll pay it if it makes the experience better

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Bristingr 13 points a year ago

Comments like yours are why the overwhelming majority of video games these days suck.

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Snowpix 8 points a year ago

Yup. "Please bend me over and fuck me for all I'm worth, corpo daddy!" type energy. Some people just can't get enough of being exploited.

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echodot 6 points a year ago

Even if I was a millionaire I wouldn't want my games to have micro transactions in them. It's not about the cost, it's about the fact that as soon as micro transactions are included in the game, the game instantly becomes all about pushing those microtransactions, to the detriment of the gameplay.

Also you are mad if you prepare to pay $100 for GTA VI especially because we all know that it'll be discounted at some point.

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RoosterBoy 4 points a year ago

You have no time, but plenty of money, so you are willing to spend extra money just for the sake of having no time AND no money? Get that corpo dick out of your mouth.

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