The biggest news in gaming today (and calling it early on May 2, the biggest gaming news this month) is thatGTA 6 has been delayed until May 13, 2025. If this news story is how you’re finding that out, well, know you know how people who found out Queen Elizabeth II died via a Cars meme felt.
And if you’re just finding out that Queen Elizabeth II died, well, you should read the news more.
However, the news ofGTA 6being delayed has had a domino effect on another publisher. For many publishers, there was an air of unease around GTA 6, withgames holding off on their release date announcementsuntil they could be sure not to be flattened by it. However, one publisher has volunteered to be flattened. And, with the delay, they’re doubling down.
Devolver Digitalis known for putting out weird, interesting indie games that usually have a very high quality bar, and also for its viral marketing gimmicks - you may remember the malfunctioning robot Volvy from the Devolver Direct a few years ago. With GTA 6’s release date confirmed, Devolver is putting at least one of those twin trademarks to use - and it’s going to match GTA 6’s launch date.
Devolver previously tweeted on March 25 of this year “Gonna release a game the exact same day and time as GTA6”. Since GTA 6’s release date was then unknown and waswidely considered a date all other games should give a wide berth, it was assumed to be a joke. Devolver has a history of tweeting ironically and then walking it back as a joke, like whenCult of the Lambsaid it woulddelist in protest of changes made to the Unity engine’s fees, which it did not do in the end.
However, immediately after GTA 6 locked in its date, Devolver did too, quoting the original tweet with the message “You can’t escape us. July 06, 2025 it is then”. No information was offered on what the game might be, and it introduces an interesting conundrum for Devolver.
This is undoubtedly a funny bit. It’s doing the thing everyone says not to do. Humour 101, full marks, et cetera. But which dev would be happy for their game to be thrown to the wolves for Devolver’s online giggles? Devolver is a publisher who works with indie devs, and these teams might not see the funny side if it’s their game going up against the biggest game in the world.
Devolver tends to make niche games that don’t necessarily have full crossover with GTA, but GTA is so universal (and Devolver’s appeal mostly to hardcore gamers looking for something unique) that you have to feel you’re limiting your playerbase by launching at the same time.
Will this all turn out to be a joke and no game comes out? Will Devolver make a gag game designed as a marketing stunt? Or is some indie studio donating their corpse for some social media likes? We’ll find out on Jun 15, 2025, except we’ll all be too busy playing GTA 6 to notice.
