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Phantom Blade: Zero devs couldn't care less about releasing near GTA 6: We don’t pay attention to the competition,what matters is how good our game is

Lunatic_Gamer

Lunatic_Gamer

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September 2026 is looking to be one of the most crowded months for games in history, as everyone eyes on a fall release crowds into the few weeks before Grand Theft Auto 6 dominates everyone's attention.

But according to game director Qiwei "Soulframe" Liang, GTA 6 didn't factor into the release date decision even a tiny bit.

"Many people may think we have some marketing strategy to move it from the overcrowded September, and some are very worried that it's closer to November," Liang said. "We don't think about any of this. We only think of the quality of the product itself. I don't think competition can influence, much, the success of a work. Only the product itself matters. So I would say 99% of the decision [was about] development."
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Liang was asked directly if launching in the vicinity of Grand Theft Auto was scary.

"I have no idea, actually," he said. "We don't think about what's happening there. We don't even think of the competition, what's launching ahead or after. What matters is how polished the game is, and if we have one or two extra months, we can fix more bugs, do more optimizations, so that we don't need a huge day one patch."
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Source:
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Isn't this one of those chinese/korean UE5 games...

Those games have a built in audience of millions of their own people. They dont really have to do much besides release.

Whether they can break the western market when gta6 launches is a different story
 
I only want GTA 6 for PC, and that's not coming for a long while. I gotta do with other games including this one if ends up being good.
 
well they are gettng my copy for sure after trying it at gamescom...
only issue is if my PC car run it fluidly...would have bought a new PC but prices are horrible
 
DarkLordOtaku said:
It depends on the game, but some genuinely are immune to GTAVI if their audience has no overlap.
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Even if their audience does overlap it's a question of whether this game itself can generate enough wind in its sails to push GTA6 buyer to pick this up further down stream.

With digital distribution games have much more of a long tail now, so the impact of sales within the first 4-8 weeks on revenues is not nearly as critical as it used to be about two - three decades ago.

Also long tail social media buzz can also be a huge factor downstream too.

They'll be fine as lots of gamers are looking forward to this one.
 
I think GTA may effect the big Yearly franchises the most I.e. Fifa or Cod. Those audiences only buy one or maybe 2 games a year and may skip this year.

I think the hardcore players will either buy GTA6 in addition to other games this holiday or be the most likely to skip it or buy at a later date.

Personally I'm only interested in GTA6 for the graphics and tech and want to play Phantom Blade and other games before it.

All those other games moving to September might have put themselves in a worse situation.
 
29th oct is still 21days aka full 3 weeks before gta6 launch, plenty time to accumulate decent sales, i say 15th november onwards till even feb 2027 is most terrible window to launch and those games sales will be cannibalised to some degree(10-20-30%?) by gta6 juggernaut 4sure :)
 
It depends on the audience. This is an action focused game and while its niche has some overlap with GTA, it shouldn't be its core audience.

What they need to do is to release a demo later in summer, after the event Sony will dedicate to them, which speaks volumes of the game's quality. This is going to be the best in the genre by some margin.
 
I feel like this will be similar to Wukong in that it will be a big hit especially in China and prominently on PC. So it's not really competing with GTA6 directly.
 
A new IP vs the billion dollar sequel to the second best selling game of all time... Come on man.

I want it to sell well, and if the game is good it should be fine, it's still coming out before GTA 6. But if that game released now instead of this October 29th, it would sell at least a million more copies.
 
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Don't lie. There's a reason nothing big is releasing in November and December. And lol at people here pretending GTA is same old same old as if its an annual release, while at same time pretending Phantom looks some kind of revolution.

GTA is the granddaddy of open world gaming, hell it might as well be its own genre because no open world game comes close to the level of GTA.
 
I'm always puzzled as why release dates should be a zero-sum game.

Nothing prevents you from buying two games on the same day.

It's not a given that less copies sold on the first day, week or month translates to lower lifetime sales. A million sales is a million sales, whether it's sold in a day, in a week, in a month, or in a year.

Passionate gamers will always go back to good games, even if they skipped day one.
Casuals only interested in the current big thing won't buy certain games on day one nor on day ten thousand, be they released on GTA day or not.

In the era of almost all-digital games, the idea that a game releasing day and date with GTA is sent out to die makes zero sense to me. And frankly, things haven't really changed much since the previous GTA game launched. Digital was a thing even then.
 
TheKratos said:
no open world game comes close to the level of GTA.
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There are many open worlds bigger than GTAV, starting with RDR 2 and ending with Crimson Desert or Zelda.

Unless you have played GTA VI, this claim is unproven.

NeoIkaruGAF said:
I'm always puzzled as why release dates should be a zero-sum game.
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Media exposition is a big factor, specially for a new IP like Phantom Blade Zero. In this case, releasing before GTA is the right call. Afterwards, it would be problematic.
 
It's very good to care about the quality of your game more than your competition but it's also not good to be deluded and think that releasing close to GTA 6 won't affect sales. Bigger games and companies than you runs away from it for a reason. Anyways, I'm excited for this game and hope it turns out as good and polished as he said
 
It's possible to both push out the best game you possibly can AND launch it in a window that gives it the best chance at success. The 'don't know, don't care" bravado might sound great but is incredibly stupid.
 
I also think that the fear of GTAVI and releasing everything in September could end up damaging sales of those games more than releasing closer to GTAVI.
Phantom Blade was delayed until October 29th, enough time for those interested to pick it up and play it before GTAVI, also the two games are in completely different genres, there isn't a strong audience overlap, the huge numbers GTAVI will do will come mostly from the mainstream audience that usually buy 2 games per year like COD and FIFA, not from people who would have a bought a game like Phantom Blade.
 
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I mean, yeah it'll probably be fine given the type of game that it is, but it's also not a good business decision to ignore the competitive landscape.

Yeah make a good game, but also do your research on launch timing. That does matter.
 
MrJangles said:
Good on him. Fuck GTA, never been as bored in my gaming life of endlessly hearing about a single game.
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Doesn't change the fact that it's the most anticipated game in the world nor the fact that this game will be selling like crazy. Big devs and publishers run away from it for a very good reason
 
I do think this obsession with GTA6 is getting weird. On some level it's understandable but ultimately the job is the same if your game launches the same day as GTA6 or in an empty month. You need to make a good game and pitch it to people amendable to it.

Also, a lot of people are going to buy GTA6 and drop it a week or two later. It's not like every single person buying it is only going to play it for five years.
 
Bullshit. It's a Chinese game for the Chinese audience.

GTA 6 will most likely not be officially available in China, so it won't affect sales. It's just marketing.
 
Abysse said:
Bullshit. It's a Chinese game for the Chinese audience.

GTA 6 will most likely not be officially available in China, so it won't affect sales. It's just marketing.
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Sony is promoting the game for a global audience. It's "as chinese" as Onimusha, Devil May Cry or any From game.

Its clear rival in that release window is Onimusha, not GTA.
 
It shouldn't matter for Nintendo since they're not getting the game. Won't be surprised if Zelda gets released same week as gta6. But gta6 will affect everyone to a degree, let's not be delusional.
 
Angry_Megalodon said:
There are many open worlds bigger than GTAV, starting with RDR 2 and ending with Crimson Desert or Zelda.

Unless you have played GTA VI, this claim is unproven.




Media exposition is a big factor, specially for a new IP like Phantom Blade Zero. In this case, releasing before GTA is the right call. Afterwards, it would be problematic.
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Sorry buddy, GTA5 wipes the floor with the titles you mentioned. Taste is subjective, but sales are not.
 
He's not wrong though.

The normies/casuals who only buy sportsball, COD, and GTA won't even know about the existence of Phantom Blade: Zero, let alone skip Grand Theft Auto 6 for it. As someone who has no plans on buying GTA 6, he's pretty on the money. I'd bet hard cash there's little to no overlap between GTA fans and fans of hack n slash games like this. That's like if Persona 6 released the same day as the yearly FIFA/Madden. It wouldn't really change anything because the fanbase is so vastly different.
 
PeteBull said:
29th oct is still 21days aka full 3 weeks before gta6 launch, plenty time to accumulate decent sales, i say 15th november onwards till even feb 2027 is most terrible window to launch and those games sales will be cannibalised to some degree(10-20-30%?) by gta6 juggernaut 4sure :)
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It's Wuxia game, means like 90% of sales will be in Asia. Where "Florida gangsta story" is not particulary popular setting

Angry_Megalodon said:
Sony is promoting the game for a global audience. It's "as chinese" as Onimusha, Devil May Cry or any From game.
Its clear rival in that release window is Onimusha, not GTA.
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It as "global" as Wukong was
Yes, it'll sell some overseas. Some. Still extra money.
 
Felessan said:
It's Wuxia game, means like 90% of sales will be in Asia. Where "Florida gangsta story" is not particulary popular setting

It as "global" as Wukong was
Yes, it'll sell some overseas. Some. Still extra money.
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It's a dark fantasy "guy with katana" game just like Onimusha or Sekiro, marketed and codeveloped by Sony. Its audience its hack-and-slash fans, in general. I dont understand why nationality is relevant in this case. Wukong is a different beast, being a game based on Chinese folklore.

It also happens that this genre sells more in Asia. Normies in the west are not playing Bayonetta, Nier or Stellar Blade.
 
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