Games Inbox: Why was GTA 6 delayed again?

The Friday letters page thinks there’s too many Modern Warfare and Black Ops games, as a reader wishes Rockstar would make games other than GTA and Read Dead.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Mr Sheen
I’ll say one thing for Rockstar, they are pretty good at keeping a lid on rumours. That new delay for GTA 6 came out of nowhere and we don’t seem to have any idea why it happened. I’m sure the needing ‘more polishing’ excuse is technically true but that is some pretty poor product management if their estimates were out by 18 months.

I know if we made that sort of mistake at work we’d be in serious trouble, but I suppose GTA 6 is such a guaranteed hit that Take-Two almost don’t care, although I doubt they’ll want this to happen again.

I can’t help but wonder what specifically the problem is and I suspect it’s getting everything running at a good frame rate and resolution. Those graphics in the trailer look amazing and while we all know Rockstar are great at that sort of thing they do almost look to good to be true. My guess is they’ve basically finished the game but it’s all running at 20fps or something, and that’s why they need the delay to get it up to speed.
Janson

Christmas is cancelled
Another massive GTA 6 delay is one thing but now think about the mess this is going to cause for other publishers. Now it doesn’t matter if they come out in May but anything that was aiming for a Christmas release should pack up shop right now. What is Call Of Duty going to do now, if it’s coming out within weeks of GTA 6? If Black Ops 7 underperforms this could cause real problems for Activision, having two disappointments in a row.

I don’t think there was any games with a confirmed November release date but apart from Call Of Duty, exclusives Marvel’s Wolverine and Fable were both probably aiming for that time. I don’t know what happens to them, if they come out early or get delayed into 2027, but GTA 6 is going to create a massive black hole in the release schedules, again.
Wotan

Beyond GTA
13 years between GTA 5 and 6 is crazy. That’s literally two console generations that have gone by and no sequel and virtually no other Rockstar games of any kind. Remember when they used to make all sorts of other things, like Bully, and Midnight Club, and The Warriors? If they were ever thinking of going back to that (which I doubt) that’s definitely been postponed for another year, thanks to the new GTA 6 delay.

I want to see GTA 6 as much as anyone but I also want to see Rockstar do something new. I don’t need a Red Dead Redemption 3 – I don’t see how it’s ever going to look significantly better than the current one and I’d much rather they do something completely new, like pirates or sci-fi or something. Anything, even a new ping pong game.
Grackle

Semi-portable
There’s an obvious appeal to streaming video games but the idea of doing that on a portable still makes no sense to me, because you can’t be portable with it! How’s it going to work on a train or taxi or whatever? You’re not going to whip out a PlayStation Portal in the middle of nowhere and start playing because you need a stable, good quality wi-fi. So you can only really use it at home.

I know in this case Sony are just experimenting and seeing what works but Microsoft seem to think it’s an actual good idea, even though it doesn’t seem to be practical at all. The problem with streaming has nothing to do with hardware or games companies, it’s entirely down to wi-fi infrastructure and I don’t want a portable console where it doesn’t work in 60% of locations.
Golem

Cheaper Pass
Been reading on and off for a few years but don’t remember ever posting.

I was wondering if you or anyone else in the GC community know what the best way to get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is? As in cheapest.

I know lots of the old methods are no more, but I am not sure if I should just buy through the Xbox store, wait for a sale on the Xbox store, or do something like CDKeys or the like. Any thoughts?
Geoff

GC: That’s a question better suited to readers and we’re sure someone will try and help. We will say you’re likely to get some good deals during Black Friday though, which basically lasts most of the month now.

Empty schedule
Anyone really yearning for some new FromSoftware action or any new Soulslike at all? One minute it seemed like there were clones everywhere and now it’s like a ghost town. Elden Ring was three years ago now and we still have no idea what they’re working on now, let alone when it will be out.

There is The Duskbloods, but it’s a Switch 2 exclusive, it’s multiplayer, and we haven’t seen anything on that since the reveal, so it’s probably been delayed or something.

Since it is Switch 2-only there’s got to be something else big that From is working on, if not several things, but what is it and why are they being so secretive? I don’t remember a time when they were ever like this before so either they’re just super behind or they have some kind of really big deal to announce?

Whatever it is, the real reason is it’s just more proof of how long new games take to make nowadays and I’m getting real sick of it. Quality is always better than quantity but you’ve still got to have some kind of balance.
Fdender

90% old
I’ve recently been watching some Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom videos online. Is the emphasis still on weapon battles and exploring dungeons and caves? There seems to be a big focus on building machinery and moving items around in the air here and there via vast and confusing menus and methods.

Give me an old skool style Zelda any day of the week, like the excellent Link’s Awakening remake on Switch.
Adams6legend

GC: Breath Of The Wild and Tears Of The Kingdom are the only games in that style, so you’re spoilt for choice if you only want the older type of design.

Breaking the cycle
I don’t really care about the best Black Ops, I think it’s high time Activision invented a new kind of Call Of Duty game. The last new one was WW2, and I wouldn’t say that even really counted. It used to be we got three different games being released in each cycle: Modern Warfare, Black Ops, and something else. Although it wasn’t even always the first two, as Infinity Ward and Treyarch used to do new stuff sometimes as well.

The last several years though it’s just been the same old series again and again, sometimes two years in a row. There’s lots of reasons why Call Of Duty seems to be falling in popularity at the moment, but I think that’s a big one that’s often overlooked.

It’s not like any of the games are that much different as it is, no matter which series it is, so making them all just Modern Warfare or Black Ops is making it even more obvious that nothing is changing and the whole concept is stuck in a rut.

I believe that’s one of the main reason Battlefield 6 has been popular. I don’t think it’s even that great, and it’s definitely not doing anything new, but at least it’s different to Call Of Duty.

For me, Arc Raiders is much more interesting than either, exactly for that reason. I don’t know how much longevity it’s got yet but at least it’s doing new things in a new world. Call Of Duty hasn’t done that for years.
Goldrick

Inbox also-rans
I wish Bandai Namco would bring back Soulcalibur. My suggestion would be to bring the characters into Tekken and get people interested in them again through that. I miss Ivy and Voldo and all the rest.
Kabobz

I wonder if games like Resident Evil Requiem and 007 First Light are going to delay now that GTA 6 isn’t going to be out in May anymore? Lot of publishers going to be changing their plans now, for sure.
Trepsils

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

MORE: Games Inbox: What’s the best family friendly video game for Christmas?

MORE: Games Inbox: What is the best-selling video game console?

MORE: Games Inbox: What will win Game of the Year 2025?