GTA 6 has not massacred video game sales this year as everything sells well

It’s been a killer few months (Remedy/Bandai Namco/EA)

Rockstar’s juggernaut may have caused a pile-up in the release calendar, but unexpectedly there doesn’t seem to be any victims in the crush. 

Ever since Rockstar delayed GTA 6 for the final time, to November 19, other developers (unless you’re Nintendo) have stayed clear of its blast zone. 

This has led to one of the most packed September and October line-ups of recent memory. Naturally, there was an expectation that this will yield big winners and losers, at a time when games are already fighting against other mediums for people’s wallets and attention. 

However, as the season starts to wind down, we now have a picture of the aftermath and unexpectedly – and to the dismay of this dramatic introduction – everyone’s a winner. 

Just this week, developer Remedy announced that Control Resonant has achieved one million sales, beating Alan Wake 2 as the fastest-selling game in the studio’s history. 

This one million milestone – generally regarded as the minimum requirement to be considered a ‘hit’ – has been a repeat occurrence across many titles in recent months.

Onimusha: Way Of The Sword hit over one million sales in one day; Ace Combat 8: Wings Of Theve hit the same milestone after a week, to become the fastest-selling entry; while Star Wars Zero Company and The Blood Of Dawnwalker – both released in August – also hit the same heights.

According to Alinea Analytics (via The Game Business), these don’t appear to have impacted titans like Marvel’s Wolverine either, which is estimated to have sold over two million copies. The expectation might be higher for a title from Sony’s first party, but it’s still a solid launch figure. 

It’s too early to tell for some, but the early word seems positive on other titles. Star Wars: Galactic Racer has been riding high above EA Sports FC 27 in the Steam weekly top sellers. Meanwhile, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave has been popping off in Japan. Even Halloween: The Game, based on Alinea Analytics, is estimated to have scored big with over one million copies sold across all platforms. 

The only murky cases are Silent Hill: Townfall and Gears Of War: E-Day. Konami hasn’t yet published sales data for the former, which didn’t seem to make much impact on Steam or the console stores. Gears Of War: E-Day’s success is difficult to assess within the context of Xbox Game Pass and its Xbox Series X/S console exclusivity. If it does turn out to be a damp squib sales wise, that’s probably more a reflection of Microsoft’s poor decision-making than the game’s quality or the GTA 6 crush. 

Onimusha appears to be another hit for Capcom (Capcom)

So when almost every major release has done surprisingly well, what’s the takeaway? It certainly eviscerates the idea that the gaming audience only has limited time and money to spend on titles each month. By the same measure, when there is a vast spread of titles and genres, it seems you can cram many games together with little consequence. 

On a broader level, this might be a lesson in expectations. Sony might want more sales for Marvel’s Wolverine to justify its big budget, and Microsoft might inexplicably believe Gears Of War is still a console-selling franchise, but there’s still plenty of the pie to go around if executives aren’t delusional about what their game can realistically achieve. 

This, naturally, goes out the window with GTA 6, since it’s expected to be the biggest launch for any piece of entertainment ever. It might vacuum attention away from other titles around it, but these preceding months have shown that, when the 2026 gaming audience is this varied and large, no single game carries the all-consuming vortex it once did. In other words, Barbie Rewind, you might have a shot after all.

Will GTA 6 lift all ships? (Rockstar Games)

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