GTA 6 Has Some Major Competition In 2025, And It's Not What You Think

Grand Theft Auto 6 is easily 2025’s most anticipated game thanks to the huge amount of hype that’s been building for it practically since the launch of GTA 5. For many, it seems like a shoo-in for the best game of the year and the best-selling game of the year. That’s not an unreasonable assumption, even just based on the game’s initial reveal trailer view count on YouTube.

However, while GTA 6’s wild theories and fan speculation have led to it garnering a significant amount of buzz, it still has a lot of healthy competition from other triple-A games. None of them felt quite up to the task of going toe-to-toe with GTA 6 until recently when a highly-anticipated game that seeks to blend all the best elements from the greatest games ever made finally got a release window of 2025.

GTA 6 Could End Up Dominating 2025

It’s One Of The Biggest Gaming Events Of All Time

GTA 6’s release window has finally been confirmed, giving the millions of fans waiting eagerly for information an idea of when it will drop in 2025. With just this morsel of information, GTA 6 has become the biggest gaming event of 2025, if not of all time, with its first reveal trailer having already garnered over 227 million views on YouTube. It’s a staggering achievement for a game that has been a long time coming and will almost certainly dominate the year.

To put into perspective just how much GTA 6 will dominate, Bloomberg reported that several developers are holding off on announcing when their game will release in 2025 until they know when Rockstar’s next game will drop. This isn’t particularly surprising, especially as several high-profile titles that were showcased at 2024’s Game Awards showcase and are already planned for release in 2025 still haven’t had a release date confirmed.

Meanwhile, the millions of fans who have watched the GTA 6 reveal trailer repeatedly are demanding to know when the next trailer is coming just so they can know anything about what will certainly be the best-selling game of the year. Whether or not people are fond of the GTA franchise as a whole, it’s hard not to admit that it has become as all-consuming as the Switch 2 when it comes to rampant rumors and wild theories.

GTA 6’s Story Could Be Setting Up Rockstar’s Most Emotional Moment Yet

Betrayal is such a major theme throughout Rockstar Studio’s games, Grand Theft Auto 6’s treachery storyline has an opportunity to top all the rest.

While GTA Online has kept the brand in the public conscience, GTA 5, the last single-player entry in the series, came out over a decade ago. In fact, it will likely have been 12 years between GTA 5 and 6 by the time it launches. It’s no wonder people are excited to get their hands on it, especially as Rockstar has proven itself to still be a phenomenal developer with Red Dead Redemption 2. However, while GTA 6 will sell well no matter what, it still has fierce competition from one game that could steal its place as GOTY.

Crimson Desert Could Be GTA 6’s Biggest Competition

It’s All The Best Games Rolled Into One

The player holding a cat in a grassy field in Crimson Desert.

It was announced during a striking Game Awards trailer that Crimson Desert, the game once thought so ambitious it must be fake, has finally got a release date in 2025. Crimson Desert’s release window now puts it in close proximity with GTA 6, which, frankly, couldn’t be a better pairing. Of course, there will be competition between them, and that’s worth discussing. However, first, it must be stated just how incredible it is that 2025 is playing host to some of the best-looking games as well as, potentially, the Switch 2.

Of course, while it can feel like GTA 6 is untouchable when it comes to being the best-selling and potentially even the best game of 2025, Crimson Desert has put on an impressive showcase over the past few years, dropping gameplay trailer after gameplay trailer that illustrates how it feels like a mash-up of the best games ever made. It feels like The Witcher 3, Breath of the Wild, Assassin’s Creed, Skyrim, Dark Souls, and so many more all rolled into one. In many ways, that could end up being a far more appealing prospect than the singularly focused GTA 6.

That’s not a slight against GTA 6, as it is important to know one’s audience and focus on delivering the best experience to them. However, by attempting to implement features from a variety of games and thus offering a multitude of different experiences, Crimson Desert could appeal to a far wider audience. This may better position it to take the top spot from GTA 6 and become a surprise hit, especially thanks to its, ironically, GTA 5-style multiplayer mode.

Crimson Desert Is A Good Alternative To GTA 6

It’s More Fantastical

The player riding a horse towards a city in Crimson Desert.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which game reigns supreme, as all games offer their own wonderful experiences that will speak to a plethora of players in many different ways. What is important is that 2025 is a great year for gaming, and that absolutely seems like it’s going to be the case. What makes Crimson Desert’s 2025 release date such excellent news is that it does offer a similar enough experience to GTA 6 while also fitting neatly into its own niche, giving those who don’t care about GTA 6 something else to get excited about.

While 2025 isn’t lacking in open-world third-person games, the fact that Crimson Desert is a fantasy game with a focus on melee combat and exploration ensures that there’s a greater variety of experiences for players to sink their teeth into. So far, it’s the only game that really fits into that category, much like how GTA 6 is the only realistic third-person shooter scheduled for 2025. That could change, but it’s unlikely that anything else quite as ambitious in scale and scope will come along.

Even GTA 6 Won’t Be Able To Take Down GTA 5

Grand Theft Auto 5 may remain as popular as ever even after the release of GTA 6 in 2025, as players have a decade of time and money invested.

Ultimately, Grand Theft Auto 6 will almost certainly dominate the entire year in both sales and likely conversations around gaming, with every other game, including highly-anticipated titles like Crimson Desert, playing second fiddle. However, there is something refreshing about one of the biggest games of all time having some form of competition. Knowing that loving GTA 6 is no longer a prerequisite to enjoying 2025 is a good feeling and that’s thanks to the ridiculously ambitious Crimson Desert and many other great-looking games launching in 2025.

Source: Rockstar Games/YouTube, Bloomberg, Crimson Desert/YouTube