Grand Theft Auto VI isn’t even at Gamescom, yet it controls everything. That’s not hype. That’s submission, proof that developers, gamers, and the industry have all chosen to circle around one brand as if nothing else exists.
In Cologne, hundreds of thousands wander through the halls, cosplayers pose for cameras, and fans line up for hours to test new shooters.
But the loudest presence is an absence. GTA VI is delayed, unplayable, and unseen, and still it drowns every conversation.
Rockstar doesn’t need a booth to dominate. $800 million on day one in 2013, more than $10 billion since, on costs of just $265 million: these numbers aren’t history; they’re a shadow.
They are so powerful that GTA VI’s delay alone is expected to wipe $2.7 billion from global gaming revenues this year. Every developer knows these numbers by heart.
And with that knowledge, the first fear sets in: why build something bold if one Rockstar press release can erase your launch window overnight?
For developers, the fear is suffocating.
Fear of invisibility: years of work gone the moment Rockstar tweets a trailer. Fear of irrelevance: creativity doesn’t matter when only mega-franchises are rewarded in an industry where the top five IPs absorb most of the market.
Fear of paralysis: every decision, budget, timing, and ambition bends to the question, “But what if GTA drops then?” With development costs now often above $200 million and more than 20,000 jobs cut since 2022, the risk of being overshadowed is existential.
The trap is cruel and familiar: no matter what I build, it won’t matter when Rockstar arrives.
For gamers, the fear plays out differently.
Trailers turn into obsessions, leaks feel like oxygen, and anticipation is hijacked into one endless countdown. Even the games they hold in their hands feel like filler, because the “real” game is always the one just out of reach: Leonida, Vice City, the fantasy Rockstar teases.
Fear of missing out: if you don’t join GTA on day one, you risk being left behind. Fear of wasting time; every other title feels like a side quest. Fear of exploitation, €100 doesn’t sound impossible, especially with rumors already putting GTA VI’s base price above that level.
And still, fans prepare to pay, because belonging matters more than resistance. GTA VI’s delay alone is expected to wipe $2.7 billion from industry revenues this year, proof that even anticipation has an economic weight.
The trap is blunt: My excitement isn’t mine anymore; it’s scripted by Rockstar.
And for the industry, denial covers fear.
Investors cheer when Rockstar delays a launch, not because innovation thrives but because the black hole has shifted its pull. When GTA VI slipped to 2026, competitors’ shares jumped, and publishers scrambled to seize the fall 2025 release window.
Stock prices swung, marketing budgets retreated, and the illusion of choice shrank. GTA VI’s delay alone is expected to erase $2.7 billion in global revenues this year.
Fear of dependency: entire markets tied to Rockstar’s calendar. Fear of contraction: the middle tier erased, leaving only blockbusters and scraps. Fear of exposure: admitting the truth would reveal just how fragile the sector has become.
The trap is stark: We orbit one sun, and pretending otherwise is self-deception.
After GTA VI, the bar will rise again: higher budgets, greater risks, fewer survivors. A handful of winners will take billions, while the middle class of games continues to evaporate. Calling it hype is comforting, but wrong.
GTA VI’s delay alone is expected to wipe $2.7 billion from the market this year; that is not hype, that is capture. It is a system where developers lose control, gamers lose anticipation, and the industry loses diversity because the gravitational field of one title reshapes everything around it.
If one game that isn’t even there can dominate Gamescom, then the story isn’t Rockstar’s power at all, it’s how quickly the rest of the industry accepts its place as small. A market where the top 10 games already take half the global revenues and where publishers rearrange calendars around a single release is not diverse. It is captive.
