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Via the Gaming Business
A leading industry data firm has reduced its 2025 sales estimates for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S and X by 700,000 units following the delay to Grand Theft Auto 6.
Ampere Analysis has also lowered its forecast for PlayStation and Xbox game sales, down by 21 million units. Overall, Ampere believes the console market will miss out on $2.7 billion in revenue this year due to the GTA 6 delay. Of course, much of this will simply move to 2026, as the game is now scheduled to launch on May 26 next year.
"The drop is quite significant," says Ampere's Piers Harding-Rolls. "You would expect people to spend on other things [instead]. But that kind of transfer will not be entirely. There will be a significant impact."
Harding-Rolls believes the GTA 6 delay would be boost to Nintendo Switch 2 this Christmas.
"In our consumer data, Switch is often seen as a second device for owners of PlayStation 5. The overlap is quite significant," he adds. "They are in the same competitive sphere, even if the content is not exactly the same."
Ampere's new report anticipates growth for the video game industry in 2025 of just 0.9%, but that will improve with a 2.2% increased in 2026. In the report, Ampere believes general inflation plus 'hyper-competition' will result in slow growth compared to pre-2019, and that companies will continue to focus on efficiency, being selective with the games they sign and profit margins.
