There’s never really been a game like Grand Theft Auto VI before, one that has completely altered the lineup of games around it. Everyone, it seems, is scared of going up against Grand Theft Auto VI. Everyone, that is, except for Nintendo.
The company held a 30-minute showcase this morning focused entirely on its Legend of Zelda franchise, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. We got a title for the live-action movie, a series of orchestral concerts, and a very glittery special edition of the Switch 2. But most of the runtime was dedicated to the upcoming Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time. There was a new trailer and a lengthy gameplay video that showed how Nintendo is approaching this remake, which includes more realistic graphics and new features like a free camera. But perhaps the most notable detail is when the game launches: November 5th.
Grand Theft Auto VI, if you’re unaware, launches on November 19th. It’s a date that has caused a seismic shift in the video game release calendar as virtually every major publisher has either delayed games or moved their release dates up in order to avoid GTA and the all-encompassing vacuum it creates. September just began, and already we’ve had launches like Star Wars Zero Company, The Blood of Dawnwalker, and Onimusha: Way of the Sword, with heavy hitters like Marvel’s Wolverine, Control Resonant, and a remastered Witcher 3 coming later in the month.
It’s a similar situation to the surprise launch of Hollow Knight: Silksong last year, where indie games jumped out of the way of its release. But GTA VI exists on a much larger scale. With few exceptions — including a pair of brave indies — publishers have decided that it’s better to be caught in a glut of releases in September than go up against GTA VI later in the year. In fact, Ocarina of Time is the only other major release that isn’t a port and is currently slated for November.
Of course, it’s not really all that surprising that Nintendo isn’t afraid of competing with GTA VI. In some ways, the games aren’t competing directly at all; Ocarina of Time will be a Switch 2 exclusive, while GTA is coming to the Xbox and PS5. But there’s more to it than that. Zelda and GTA will still be fighting over cultural mindshare, which is something that both Nintendo and Rockstar have become adept at cultivating. And they’ve both done it largely the same way: by ignoring what everyone else is doing.
For Rockstar, the massive success of GTA V allowed the studio the space and freedom to do essentially whatever it wanted, and the decade-plus in between Grand Theft Auto releases has generated a level of hype that has perhaps never been seen before in any entertainment industry. That has allowed the next game to largely exist in its own universe, where Rockstar can do unprecedented things like put out a lengthy gameplay video on Netflix.
Nintendo operates in a similar way, largely following its own whims rather than industry trends. This has led to some high-profile failures — RIP to the Wii U — but over the last decade or so, Nintendo has further distanced itself from competitors Sony and Microsoft, going in a completely new direction with its hybrid Switch line of hardware. Instead of following trends, Nintendo now starts them: Just look at all of the devices that followed the Switch, from the Steam Deck to the PlayStation Portal. The PS6 might even be a portable.
If you want a clear example of just how separate Nintendo is from the rest of the industry, look no further than 2020. In the same week that the PS5 and Xbox Series X were ushering in the next generation of game consoles, Nintendo also launched its own hardware: an updated version of the Game & Watch that could play Super Mario Bros. and tell you the time. It’s hard to get much further away from next-gen than that.
The current iteration of Nintendo is one that largely avoids risks and often plays things safe. But it’s also one that operates with an incredible amount of confidence, which is something that much of the rest of the industry lacks, at least when it comes to GTA. The next Grand Theft Auto may have the ability to warp the video game release calendar, but Nintendo and Zelda have enough pull to be able to ignore it.
