Some devs are actually launching their games during GTA 6 week, absolute madlads

PC Gamer put up a piece about the studios that are still shipping on Steam the same week GTA 6 lands, and honestly, respect to them. The line that got me was about roundabouts, merchant republics and dark fantasy roguelikes refusing to move their dates. That's a whole lot of niche comfort food going up against the biggest launch of the decade.

I get why most publishers cleared the deck. November 19 is going to eat every headline, every stream, every group chat for at least two weeks. If your game needs oxygen, that's a bad week to breathe. But there's a counter argument that's been floating around for a while and I think it holds up. Not everyone buying GTA 6 wants to play nothing else. Some people will want a palate cleanser. Some people can't afford the big one yet and still want something new to play. And some people just don't care about GTA at all, which is apparently legal.

The other thing is discoverability. Steam's front page is going to be a wall of GTA 6 for a few days, sure, but the algorithm still surfaces stuff. A small game with a decent wishlist base and a niche audience might actually get more attention from people actively looking for an alternative than it would in a normal crowded week.

Roundabouts, merchant republics, and dark fantasy roguelikes aren't budging their release plans.

I'm not going to pretend I'll be playing any of them on day one. I've got my copy sorted and my whole week is gone. But I'll probably pick one up a month later when I surface for air, and I'll remember that they didn't flinch.

Anyone here actually planning to skip the launch chaos and play something smaller that week instead?

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Source: PC Gamer · Curated content.