It’s no secret that Grand Theft Auto 6 is the most anticipated video game of 2025, perhaps of the last decade or more. The franchise’s cultural footprint in the entertainment industry can’t be denied either. Leading up to the launch of the next major title from Rockstar Games, an analyst claims that GTA 6 could be the most important game to ever release in the industry.
The prediction comes from Circana analyst Matt Piscatella, who spoke to GamesIndustry.biz recently about his expectations for video game releases this year and in 2025. Piscatella says that 2024 is potentially going to be a “tough” year due to the uncertainty of big game releases from major companies.
While Xbox’s slate for this year includes a strong lineup of first-party releases like Avowed, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, the same can’t be said for PlayStation and Nintendo – both have little to no major first-party releases set for 2024 as of writing.
Piscatella goes on to state that he’s a lot more optimistic about 2025’s schedule with heavy-hitters like Pokemon Legends Z-A, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach and of course, GTA 6. Piscatella explains:
“If you look towards 2025, if interest rates come down and money becomes a little bit more free-flowing to devs and pubs, we should get a boost in the development cycle again. We’re going to get a renewed batch of interest with GTA 6 in particular. There’s probably never been a more important thing to ever release in the industry, so no pressure.”
Considering that the debut trailer for GTA 6 managed to climb its way up to the top of YouTube as the second most-watched video game trailer of all time, Piscatella might have a point. The demand for GTA 6 has been astronomical over the past few years and with the game finally set to arrive next year, the hype and anticipation are expected to reach very high levels.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
