Phantom Blade 0's director has stated that there are no plans to shift its release date further away from Grand Theft Auto 6, even as other publishers scramble to avoid Rockstar's blockbuster. The autumn release calendar shows many companies terrified of launching near GTA 6 in November, resulting in a congested September and October. However, some developers remain undeterred.
S-Game Not Intimidated by GTA 6
Atari is launching a retro Barbie collection targeting a different audience, while S-Game, the Chinese developer behind Phantom Blade 0, similarly remains unfazed. In an interview, the team explained that GTA 6 has not impacted their development or release timing. Phantom Blade 0 launches on October 29, just three weeks before GTA 6, making it the closest big-budget game to Rockstar's title.
Game director Qiwei 'Soulframe' Liang told PC Gamer that the team isn't even thinking about GTA 6's potential impact. '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.'
Liang added: '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 optimisations, so that we don't need a huge day one patch.'
Memory Shortages a Bigger Concern
If anything, Liang is more concerned about ongoing memory shortages driving up hardware costs. 'This year the hardware price is going up, and people who want to replace their hardware may postpone their plan to upgrade their equipment, so we think we need to let the game be played by as many players as possible without reducing the quality,' he explained.
S-Game's lack of concern about GTA 6 may stem from the fact that most of its sales are expected in China, where PC dominates and GTA 6 is only launching on consoles. This reduces direct competition. However, Phantom Blade 0 is also highly anticipated in the West. While it could be mistaken for a Soulslike, it is more of a traditional action role-playing game, similar to Devil May Cry.
For more gaming news, visit our Gaming page.
