Players are already eagerly waiting for GTA 6. The open-world game is expected to break records again and likely dominate in 2026. There will probably be little competition. However, a well-known analyst believes that there is indeed competition, but it is an old game in the series.
What is this competition? In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Mat Piscatella from the market research firm Circana spoke again about GTA 6 and the current state of gaming. He has already commented on the open-world game in the past.
He concludes that it is currently a wild time
to make new video games. According to him, the biggest competition for GTA 6 is surprisingly the predecessor: The biggest competitor of Grand Theft Auto 6 will be Grand Theft Auto 5.
The biggest competition for new games are not even new titles
How does Piscatella come to this conclusion? One problem in game development is making production more efficient and sustainable, but a big challenge is games that have been around for a while. Piscatella says:
For example, look at Fortnite […] For now seven, eight years this game has been the biggest thing in the world. Or Minecraft. And Grand Theft Auto 5 was released in 2013. It still ranks among the top 20 best-selling games every month.
Mat Piscatella on the biggest challenge for new games (gamesindustry.biz)
GTA 5 is not only the best-selling game of all time after Minecraft (via Statista), it also regularly appears in the German sales charts, as the Association of the German Games Industry states:
- In July 2025, GTA 5 was at 10th place
- In June 2025, at 5th place
- In May 2025, even at 3rd place
Thus, GTA 5 regularly sells more often in Germany than other new titles.
Is there a video game fatigue? In the interview, Shawn Layden, the former head of Sony Worldwide Studios, discussed the current state of the industry. He believes that there is currently a fatigue in the market because the same things have been done for a long time.
He believes that smaller AA studios have the best opportunity to develop and adapt. According to him, there will be a rebirth
of AA studios that have different approaches compared to the large AAA productions. Successes in this area have been seen, for example, with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The head of the studio stated in an interview that he would have taken much longer in a large company to finish the game.
GTA 6 is expected to be released on May 26, 2026. The hype seems to be significant with the few trailers and information available. Also, MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes is looking forward to the game, even though he is not a big fan of GTA 5: I admit, I didn’t have fun with GTA 5, but because one thing changes, I can hardly wait for the release of GTA 6
