GTA 6 “biggest competitor” will be GTA 5 as it’s “wild times to make new video games,” says former Activision analyst

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GTA 6 is currently slated for May 26th, 2026. The Take-Two CEO is very confident of this release date and has stated Rockstar are determined to smash the “extraordinary expectations” from all over the world. While we know the game is going to be huge, an analyst who previously worked at Activision and Warner Bros. Games has said that the biggest competition GTA 6 will face is GTA 5.

GTA 6 “biggest competitor” is GTA 5

Gamesindustry.biz recently conducted an interview about the future of gaming that involved Circana senior director, Mat Piscatella. Circana is an analysis firm, and Mat Piscatella previously worked at Activision and Warner Bros. Gaming in business planning and analysis roles involving massive games such as the Call of Duty, Batman Arkham, and Guitar Hero series.

Regarding the future of gaming, Piscatella said “it’s a wild time to be trying to make new video games”. This is because of the challenges for future games in trying to compete with what’s already out in the market.

Piscatella cited Fortnite, saying, “It’s been, what, seven, eight years now that that thing’s been the biggest thing in the world”. He also included Minecraft as an example.

As for GTA, the analyst said, “Grand Theft Auto 5 launched in 2013. It’s still one of the top 20 bestselling games every single month.” Lastly, the analyst said, “The biggest competitor to Grand Theft Auto 6 will be Grand Theft Auto 5”.

Forget just top 20 best-selling games every month, GTA 5 is usually in the top 10, if not the top 5. Recently, it was revealed by Take-Two Interactive that the lifetime sales for GTA 5 up until August 2025 include over 215-million units. Take-Two also bragged that the game “Reached $1 billion in retail sales faster than any entertainment release in history,” and that it is the “Best-selling title of the past 10 years in the U.S., based on both unit and dollar sales”.

Even though some would naturally assume GTA 5 will slow down when GTA 6 comes out, that is hardly going to happen because GTA 6 isn’t predicted to come out on PC until at least 2027. Not to mention GTA 6 is also exclusive to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and, as wild as it sounds, millions of people have still not made the leap from PS4 and Xbox One. The CEO of Twitch has also previously said that GTA 5 will thrive after GTA 6 because GTA 5 is the most popular streamed game due to Grand Theft Auto Online RP.

When Grand Theft Auto 6 finally come out, it’s expected that massive sales for GTA 5 will continue. It’s perhaps even possible that GTA 5 will see an increase in sales due to the hype of Grand Theft Auto 6 and some people unable to play.

In other GTA 6 news, Take-Two CEO has said that the game will “deliver more value” than the retail price.

About the Author

Callum Smith

Callum Smith is a freelance gaming writer for Videogamer. He covers news for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, and he has over five years experience covering the video games industry.

Grand Theft Auto 6

  • Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series X
  • Genre(s): Action, Action Adventure

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