GTA 6 Delay Deals Blow to Sony: PS5 Sales Forecast Cut Significantly

Grand Theft Auto 6 was always going to have an impact on the entire video game industry. Its release later this year would've led to Sony enjoying a record fiscal year, as hinted at by Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki a few months back.

However, now that it's confirmed for a May 26, 2026 release, Sony had to adjust its projections.

According to Sony's latest financial results, the company forecasts selling approximately 15 million PlayStation 5 consoles by March 31, 2025, down from 18.5 million in the previous year. The GTA 6 delay is a major factor behind this. DFC Intelligence CEO David Cole told VGC that Sony expected GTA 6 to be the system-seller that would finally convince many PS4 owners - and newcomers - to upgrade to the current generation.

With GTA 6 no longer coming out later this year, the PS5 will now further behind its predecessor, the PlayStation 4. Currently, both are neck-and-neck in the equivalent period of their lifecycles, with the PS5 selling 77.8 million units worldwide to the PS4's roughly 79 million units sold.

This projection adjustment from a record fiscal year to a slowdown in sales forecasts from a giant like Sony is telling of Rockstar Games' stranglehold on the video game industry. As more and more companies release their financial statements over the next few weeks, we're expecting to see similar stories of changed sales expectations, as predicted by one expert following the GTA 6 delay.

In a recent report by Jason Schreier, GTA 6's delay is receiving somewhat mixed reactions from other companies. Although most are happy that they can now finally confirm the release dates of their upcoming games, some are apprehensive and worried about another potential delay. Electronic Arts is one of the first to celebrate the new release date of GTA 6 as it finally gives them a clear window of when to release the next Battlefield entry.

As for Sony, close partners and former first-party stalwart Hideo Kojima confirmed that they chose to release Death Stranding 2 earlier and outside of the Fall 2025 release window to avoid GTA 6. While Ghost of Yotei is now expected to be one of the biggest blockbuster titles of the year and a frontrunner for GOTY alongside Split Fiction and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II , the financial results make it clear that GTA 6 is still "king", as described by former Activision executive Mike Ybarra.

With that said, a PS5-exclusive update for Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption 2 could indirectly help with PS5's slight sales slump. The recent rumors suggest that Rockstar, possibly with the help of Video Games Deluxe, is working on a remaster for GTA IV. What are the chances that a next-gen patch for Red Dead Redemption 2 is also in the pipeline?

Sold for $50 (or even less), these re-releases could rake in million in sales and encourage PS4 owners to finally pick up the PS5, especially with the incoming tariffs expected to make the best-selling console of this generation more expensive.