If there’s a big winner in the wake of the delay of Grand Theft Auto 6 from May 26, 2026 to November 19, 2026, it’s 007 First Light.
In September last year IO Interactive, the Danish developer of the Hitman games, had slapped James Bond action adventure 007 First Light with a March 27, 2026 release date — just two months ahead of the release of GTA 6 before Rockstar announced its delay to November.
Two months would be, under normal circumstances, plenty of room for two video games to breathe, but this is GTA 6 we’re talking about. It looks set to become not only the biggest video game launch of all time, but the biggest… anything launch of all time. You could see a situation where the wider gaming public might save their hard-earned cash for GTA 6, even if they quite like the look of the promising 007 First Light — especially with speculation that Rockstar could end up charging even more than $70 for it.
And so, two months was certainly close enough for 007 to be caught up in the gravitational pull of Rockstar’s behemoth, so massive an impact it will surely have on the video game space. Not even James Bond in a souped-up Aston Martin would have much of a chance of breaking free.
And it sounds like the developers at IO Interactive knew that all too well. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, CEO Hakan Abrak was asked about GTA 6 kindly getting out of 007’s way.
“It would be a lie not to say that obviously spring looks really good,” he replied. “I want to say in the same breath that GTA 6 is a welcome thing for the industry. I do believe a lot of gamers who maybe haven’t played for a while will get into things again, and generally for the industry as a whole, I think that will be amazing.”
Abrak’s comments about the positive impact of GTA 6 echo those of Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who has suggested the game’s release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S (sorry PC gamers, no launch for you… for now) will spark a surge in console sales. Such is the might of GTA 6 that it will no doubt convince an army of gamers to finally upgrade from the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One to the current-gen, or push PC gamers over the edge so they can get in on the fun at launch.
And let’s not forget Star Wars movie The Mandalorian and Grogu, which was set to come out in the same week as GTA 6. Yes, GTA 6 will probably hit all forms of entertainment hard as the world dives into the next iteration of Vice City. The Force be damned.
But while there are winners in all this, there are losers, too — something we at IGN have looked into following the GTA 6 delay. Microsoft has a raft of games due out next year that may end up hit hard by GTA 6, such as the next Fable, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War E-Day, and even 2026’s Call of Duty. But Sony is probably shifting nervously at the prospect of Insomniac’s PlayStation 5 exclusive, Marvel’s Wolverine, getting absorbed by the GTA 6 effect, too.
All the while, James Bond himself is off having a celebratory vodka martini, “shaken, not stirred” of course. With GTA 6 out the picture, the world famous secret agent has a clear run to success.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
