"Publishers sometimes talk themselves into believing their game doesn't directly compete with others," writes GamesIndustry.biz in a blistering editorial. "But four big hitters in ten days spells commercial chaos."
The analysis cuts through the PowerPoint justifications that publishers use to convince themselves they're not making a mistake. Marvel's Wolverine on September 15. Control Resonant and Silent Hill: Townfall — both on September 24. Onimusha: Way of the Sword on September 25. All of them targeting the exact same gaming audience that would happily buy all four — but can't afford to.
The Movie Industry Myth
The editorial draws a sharp line between Hollywood and gaming economics. Movie studios can counterprogram — Barbie and Oppenheimer, a rom-com opposite an action blockbuster — because a movie ticket costs $15 and the experience lasts two hours. A customer can watch both in the same weekend.
Video games don't work that way. At $70+ per title and 30-80 hours of playtime, "serious mechanical factors push most consumers towards buying one game at a time, and usually not more than one game in a month." When Wolverine, Control Resonant, Onimusha, and Silent Hill all land in the same fortnight, the audience has to choose — and three of those four publishers are going to lose.
"The way that this scattering has stuffed major titles into a couple of weeks in September is commercial madness. I have no doubt it's being justified with all sorts of PowerPoint slides showing audience segment graphs."
The editorial also notes the peculiarity of the exodus being so complete. GTA 6 is launching on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only — meaning November 2026 is actually a great month to launch a PC or Switch-focused title. Yet the fear of Rockstar's marketing machine consuming all the oxygen has driven publishers into a corner where they're now competing with each other just as fiercely as they would have competed with GTA 6.
The conclusion is sober: the games industry just recreated the problem it was trying to avoid. Instead of losing to one competitor in November, publishers will lose to three competitors in September. And GTA 6, alone in its November window, will watch from the sidelines as the bloodbath unfolds.