Games Inbox: Is a GTA 6 delay inevitable?

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No rush
I see the rumours about GTA 6 being delayed, possibly even till 2026, and it doesn’t really surprise me. I can’t think of any recent Rockstar games that weren’t delayed at least once and personally I take that as a good sign, because it shows they’re not just throwing it out in any old state, just to start the money rolling in.

Considering what’s going on with the games industry at the moment I think we need GTA 6 to be all it can be, whether you’re interested in it or not. It needs to be successful but more than that it needs to be good. The constant bad news, and the lack of innovation this generation is starting to take its toll, I feel, and we need something to show how good games can be when they’re playing fair with gamers.

I feel about the Switch 2 in a similar way, if it can also bring with it some classic Nintendo magic. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth falls in the same category for me, so I’m a bit upset to find it’s not done as well as it deserves to. I’m sure that won’t be true of GTA 6 but the best way to ensure that is not to rush it.
Purple Ranger

Going it alone
Kind of a shock to find out that Larian Studios isn’t going to do anything more for Baldur’s Gate 3. I don’t know if there was any falling out though. I think they just realised they were big league news now and didn’t have to use someone else’s franchise anymore to get noticed (plus, it’s more profitable, of course).

I did like the idea of them doing a Star Wars game, but I think that’s impossible now, for the same reasons. But I’ll settle for an original sci-fi game, if it means they avoid doing Divinity: Original Sin 3. Don’t get me wrong, the previous games were great, but the setting is nowhere near as interesting as Dungeons & Dragons and I feel it would be a downgrade to go back now.

Whatever they do though I’m sure I’ll be there, as I do feel Baldur’s Gate 3 is the best game of its kind ever made. Whether this success will go to Larian’s head or be just a sign of more greatness to come I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Castor

Best to worst
Capcom might have been labelled the best publisher of last year but adding microtransactions to a game after launch, to avoid them being mentioned in reviews, is the sort of scumbag move that Ubisoft or EA would rightly be called out on.

It’s completely put me off the idea of getting Dragon’s Dogma 2 at full price and I can only hope there’s a backlash that will convince Capcom not to do this again. It’d have to be pretty loud though, as they only need a very small number of people to spend a lot on microtransactions and it’s more than worth their while. A real shame, as otherwise the game looked good.
Stewpot

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Eaten your fill
As someone who really loved the first game I have to ask, am I missing something with Spider-Man 2? I’ve owned it since launch, I keep trying to play it, and I get bored or stuck or something.

I’ve just put the difficulty down to Friendly Neighbourhood and it’s still not fun in the slightest. I don’t know what I’m missing but I’m really missing it with this game. Please help.
StellarFlux

GC: The gameplay is very similar to the original, and it’s not any more difficult, so we guess that, subconsciously at least, you’ve just had enough of the franchise at this point.

Getting ahead of yourself
I’m not sure it’s PS5 Pro, I really do think it’s the PlayStation 6. Why would Sony rock the boat with the PlayStation 5 doing so well? Even Phil Spencer has said that the next console from them is being worked on and will come sooner than before other gens.

I really do think it’s the PlayStation 6 they’re working on. If they brought out the next gen with a game like GTA 6 with the PlayStation 6, and their games aren’t ready till at least next year, it could all tie into GTA 6 as a launch game. And then Sony’s next load of games landing on that and with GTA 6 on a timed exclusively on PlayStation 6 4, say 30 days, could really boast sells.
David

GC: The console being released this year is the PS5 Pro.

Old horror
I was disappointed to read the reviews for Alone In the Dark, as I was really hoping that could be a return to form for the franchise. I think I will still get it on cheap, because it does seem to be a good homage to the original, but what upsets me most is that it’s apparently not at all frightening.

It’s been highlighted before, but this is a major problem with recent survival horrors. Resident Evil kind of gets a pass, especially Resident Evil 4, but the recent new Silent Hills, Scorn, and Alan Wake 2 were completely unscary. Alan Wake 2 actually rebranded itself as a horror game and I’ve no idea what, outside of those silly faces coming at you, was even supposed to be scary.

I really miss the days of old school Silent Hill and Resident Evil, of games getting under my skin and being too terrified to move on, because the game was doing its job so well. Even things like Alien Isolation seem ages ago now and there’s nothing like it around at the moment.

The only game I’ve found actually creepy lately is the Dead Space remake but that was basically exactly the same game as 20 years ago. The obvious explanation is that scary games don’t sell, and so publishers are trying to tone them down but then that’s getting rid of the only reason the fans turned up in the first place.
Korey

GC: We’d recommend Amnesia: The Bunker. It also happens to have some similarities with Alien Isolation.

Going out with a bang
I’d be interested to know what Shinji Mikami’s reasons were for leaving his company Tango Gameworks and starting another one. Did he not get on well with Bethesda? I don’t think any of the games have been that successful so maybe he felt he was under too much pressure to do things their way?

I have to admit I was never a fan of The Evil Within though, it just always felt like a poor man’s Resident Evil but without the humour. I’m still curious to know what he’d do for his final game before retiring though. Would it be a horror game? What is his dream game? And who will pay for it?
SystemE

Longtime relationship
Couldn’t agree more with Stanton on his Reader’s Feature on the PS5 Pro being pointless.

Anyway, on a slightly different note, the talk of a delay for GTA 6 to late 2025 might actually be good news for Nintendo and their Switch successor, if it is indeed due for sale early 2025. If GTA 6 was to release in the first few months of the year, then the release of a brand new console from Nintendo a month or so later, which (I’m presuming) isn’t powerful enough to run the best new game on the market, isn’t a great look for the console, no matter how many first party games they have with the launch.

However, if GTA 6 comes out later in the year, as now rumoured, then Nintendo would have those first few months on sale to be the hot new item for early adopters. Then by the time the Christmas season comes around, Nintendo traditionally do well in this period anyway, and would already hopefully have a good amount of top first party games on sale that the release of the juggernaut GTA 6 not being available on their format isn’t much of an issue.

Unless I’m completely wrong and Nintendo have made sure Rockstar’s monster is available and playable on the Switch 2. Which would mark the first time for a Nintendo console I believe? (not including the trilogy remasters).
Stephen

GC: GTA: Chinatown Wars was originally a Nintendo DS exclusive. There were also two GTA titles on Game Boy Color and one on the Game Boy Advance.

Inbox also-rans
Turns out all those 11 years of inaction and me just thinking ‘maybe I should buy Dragon’s Dogma’ or ‘Oh, it’s a cult classic now. Maybe I should give it a go’ but never actually buying it, have finally paid off. Dragon’s Dogma V2, here I come.
TommyFatFingers