GTA 6 Is Making Gamers Wait, Even on Take-Two's Own NBA 2K27

Grand Theft Auto 6 is affecting more than its own launch window. According to Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick, the game's gravitational pull has been strong enough to crowd out other releases, and some players have stopped buying new games altogether while they wait for Rockstar's open-world sequel.

The effect is visible in the release calendar. Publishers bunched a large number of titles into September, a stretch that many had hoped to use to catch players before the holiday season. Zelnick's comments suggest that cluster did not work out the way some studios expected. Attention and spending are finite, and a title with GTA 6's reach absorbs both.

The most striking detail is that the casualties include Take-Two's own products. NBA 2K27, the publisher's annual basketball series, is among the games that have had to compete with its sister studio's blockbuster for the same wallets. It is an unusual situation for a company with a large portfolio: the success of one release can come at the expense of another under the same corporate roof.

For players, the logic is simple. Many are budgeting for GTA 6 and skipping purchases that feel optional until the big game arrives. For the rest of the industry, that means fewer open slots on the calendar and more pressure to pick dates that do not collide with Rockstar's plans.

It is still too early to say how long the pause will last. Once GTA 6 is out and the initial rush of players settles, the real test will be whether the delayed purchases return or whether some of that spending simply disappears. Sales figures for the fall and winter lineup will show whether the industry's wait was a short-term adjustment or a sign of a bigger shift in how players budget for games.