The two indie game legends going head-to-head with Grand Theft Auto 6

Pay attention now on Apple, Spotify or YouTube

In This Version,

• Indies tackle GTA

• Strauss Zelnick talks new IP

• Swap 2 gross sales spike

• Plus, Rami Ismail on the state of indies (podcast solely)

Whats up there!

We’re only a week away from GTA 6. Is it going to gentle a fireplace underneath the sport enterprise? Or simply suck all of the oxygen out of the room?

Two recreation builders banking on the previous are indie legends Rami Ismail and Edmund McMillen, who’re each launching video games proper subsequent to Rockstar’s epic. We chat to each of them about that, plus just a few different issues, in at present’s Present.

As well as, I had a short interview with Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick, and I’ll share a few of that with you, too.

You possibly can watch or take heed to the entire thing above. Alternatively, I’ve chosen the important thing quotes and insights beneath. Take pleasure in!

Nearly all of recreation builders and publishers have run away from the launch GTA 6, however not Rami Ismail or Edmund McMillen.

The indie recreation titans are each launching new initiatives subsequent to Rockstar’s epic. Ismail’s new recreation Australia Did It: Finish-of-the-World Railway Protection Enterprise arrived earlier this week, whereas McMillen’s The Binding of Isaac: Repentance+ On-line involves console on November 19, the very launch day of GTA 6.

“Everyone agrees you’re not imagined to go close to Grand Theft Auto, so most individuals aren’t going close to Grand Theft Auto,” Ismail defined. “Which means most individuals are going earlier than or after Grand Theft Auto, which signifies that, weirdly sufficient, the quietest time to launch proper now’s close to Grand Theft Auto.

“It’s going to remain busy till March, the place everyone’s simply been like, ‘Oh, we’re dodging Grand Theft Auto, so we’re simply going to launch in Feb or January.’ And people are all video games I’m competing with. These are indies, these are $20, $15, $10 video games. These are video games that you simply’re meant to play in between different video games. I’m not competing [with GTA], it’s not even the identical business. Rockstar Video games is a separate business.

“Are we taking pictures ourselves within the foot? Frankly, we don’t know. However the different of ready with the way in which the business is growing now, I’m pleased with the alternatives we made.”

Ismail stated with the sheer variety of video games coming to market, he would slightly take the chance of “Grand Theft Auto 6 snuffing all of the oxygen out of the room, than go stand in the midst of a busy soccer stadium with a bit flag being like, ‘play my recreation.’”

He added: “We’re more and more in damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t territory with this business. You’re imagined to make issues fast, however then AI can clone you quicker. You’re supposed to construct neighborhood, however then constructing a neighborhood creates extra expectations, and AI is a menace. You’re supposed to maneuver your threat to publishers, however publishers are much less and fewer serious about taking dangers. You’re supposed to place your Steam web page up early, however then publishers can see your wishlist numbers. You’re imagined to not launch towards Grand Theft Auto, however then everyone else does the identical. You’re imagined to not take too many reckless dangers, however then something however reckless threat doesn’t appear to repay. It’s unusual occasions.”

Ismail acknowledged it could be arduous to get press protection this month because of GTA, however he hopes his affect, and the sport’s area of interest viewers, can nonetheless cut-through. However even when it doesn’t, he’ll merely do one other push “a month or two after Grand Theft Auto.”

In the meantime, for McMillen, the choice to go subsequent to GTA 6 was far much less analytical.

“Truthfully, Tyrone [Rodriguez, CEO of publisher Nicalis] stated, ‘wouldn’t it’s humorous if we launched on the identical day as Grand Theft Auto?’ And I used to be like, ‘yeah, that’s humorous.’ I’m not terrified of it. It’s an attention-grabbing experiment. Who’s to know if it’s going to promote roughly? I really feel like extra persons are going to be enjoying video video games in that week, and Isaac followers are Isaac followers, interval. The individuals which are enjoying it actively on Steam will see it launch on console. As soon as the mud settles on [GTA], persons are going to be searching for one other recreation to play. And Isaac’s proper there.”

McMillen has good cause to be assured in Binding of Isaac. The 15 year-old recreation is already having fun with an enormous 12 months of gross sales.

“I feel by the top of 2026, we’d have bought 5 million extra copies this 12 months,” he revealed.

“We put it on sale at the start of summer time. Steam beneficial that we do it, and I all the time say sure to no matter Steam recommends. They pushed it, and it was a giant sale, nevertheless it was identical to, ‘wow’. It broke all of our every day numbers by occasions three. It went loopy. It went larger than Mewgenics for every day [users].”

Mewgenics is McMillen’s newest breakout hit, which launched in February to rave critiques and massive gross sales.

“We handed two million items some time again, after which we launched on console [in September], and we bought an okay quantity,” he revealed. “We should always have launched after Grand Theft Auto, hoping Grand Theft Auto sells some consoles.”

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick says “it might not be the top” for bodily media completely, regardless of 98% of its enterprise being digital.

Subsequent week’s GTA 6 gained’t be launched in disc type, and with now simply 2% of its enterprise coming through conventional retail, we requested Zelnick if Take-Two is ending its relationship with optical media.

“It might not be the top, however pay attention, we’ve been speaking, you and I, for a very long time,” he stated. “I predicted that digital distribution can be effectively over 90% of the enterprise greater than 10 years in the past. I don’t all the time get it proper, however this one I received proper. Will there all the time be some bodily enterprise? Sure, in the identical method that there’s nonetheless a vinyl enterprise in recorded music. But it surely’s going to be a really small a part of the enterprise.”

Zelnick was chatting with us in regards to the firm’s newest monetary outcomes, which noticed NBA 2K27 carry out beneath expectations. And he urged that GTA could also be partially accountable.

“Initially, let’s keep in mind this launch of NBA 2K is the second most profitable launch we’ve ever had,” he defined. “This isn’t a restoration scenario, it is a nice information scenario. That stated, do I consider that there’s some affect of the presales of GTA 6, the expectations round GTA 6, on the remainder of the leisure enterprise? Actually. Actually there’s affect.”

Along with the numbers, we additionally spoke about Take-Two’s new studio Small Axe, which was shaped in August to create a ‘blockbuster sports activities franchise’. The studio options veterans from EA Sports activities, together with leaders who labored on FIFA and EA Sports activities FC.

Zelnick says it’s “incumbent” that Take-Two invests in new IP. However gamers of video games like NBA 2K and EA Sports activities FC are growing entrenched inside their present franchises, with reside service modes like Final Workforce and MyTeam conserving them engaged from title-to-title. So what makes Take-Two assured that it could possibly discover a house for a brand new competitor?

“I don’t know that we are able to,” he stated candidly. “I’m all the time operating scared, and once more, I by no means declare success earlier than it happens, and I’m a agency believer that conceitedness is the enemy of continued success. Our observe file with regard to the creation of latest mental property is just not good, nevertheless it’s fairly good. Immediately now we have 15 large franchises in our PC and console enterprise which have every bought at the least 5 million items, and the one cause that’s the case is as a result of we had been prepared to spend money on new mental property over time. I’m cautiously optimistic that we are able to proceed to create success. Inevitably, it won’t be 100% of the time.”

Gross sales of Nintendo Swap 2 jumped following the discharge of the 40^th Anniversary Zelda Swap 2 console.

Based on Nielsen IQ, the launch of the particular version console was the fifth largest week for Swap 2 gross sales within the UK up to now. It was simply behind the Christmas week final 12 months. Different larger weeks embrace final 12 months’s Black Friday, the week after Black Friday and the launch week of the console itself. Swap 2 accounted for 52% of all recreation consoles bought in the course of the week the particular version SKU arrived.

This success was mirrored within the US, the place Swap 2 had its largest week of the 12 months due to the Zelda console (Circana figures).

Up to now, Swap 2 leads the market within the UK. We now wait to see the impression of GTA 6 on PS5 and Xbox gross sales.

• PlayStation has cancelled its on-line shooter FairGames after playtests delivered “combined” outcomes when it got here to participant suggestions and retention. Developer Haven Studios will now collaborate with different PlayStation groups, whereas exploring new initiatives. No job cuts are being made presently.

• PlayStation has additionally cancelled Ratchet & Clank: Ranger Rumble, its free-to-play cellular recreation a 12 months after it entered delicate launch.

• Sony Santa Monica has delayed God of Battle Laufey from February to Might 20, 2027.

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake has bought 5.2 million items in 4 days. It’s the quickest promoting Nintendo Swap 2 recreation globally.

• World of Warcraft Perpetually noticed the most important launch in WoW historical past based mostly on peak concurrent gamers. It additionally marked the best variety of returning gamers within the sequence’ historical past, and it noticed the most important variety of new gamers in 15 years.

• A leaked draft of the EU’s Digital Equity Act suggests the brand new laws would cease video games from promoting loot bins and pay-to-win mechanics to minors with out parental approval, and swap off paid-for digital currencies for under-18s.

• Skydance has made some undisclosed layoffs at its video games division. It follows the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery.

• Cellular recreation developer Fortis Video games has shut down with 440 redundancies.

• Bandai Namco has closed Unknown 9: Awakening developer Reflector Leisure, which it acquired in 2020.

• Killing Ground and Maneater developer Tripwire Interactive has laid off 36 workers. The studio is owned by Embracer.

• Bit Reactor, the developer of Star Wars: Zero Firm, has laid off an unspecified variety of workers. It’s after it needed to furlough a lot of its workforce forward of the launch of the Star Wars technique recreation.

• Black Forest Video games has spun out of THQ Nordic and created Third Sign, a brand new unbiased group of studios.

• Take-Two noticed second quarter bookings drop 18% to $1.6 billion. It’s very barely beneath the agency’s $1.62 billion to $1.67 billion steering because of NBA 2K27 lacking its forecast.

• Unity has delivered one other file monetary quarter, boosted by a 126% year-on-year progress in its AI-powered ad community Vector. Unity delivered its first GAAP-profitable quarter since its 2020 IPO.

• Nintendo reported a 12.1% lower in gross sales for the six months ending September 30, 2026. That is primarily because of fewer console gross sales. Revenue rose 49.1% to $1.3 billion, pushed by profitable Swap video games corresponding to Tomodachi Life: Dwelling The Dream, Rhythm Heaven Groove, and the Swap 2 title Splatoon Raiders. The agency additionally had a primary quarter US tariff refund. Swap 2 {hardware} gross sales dropped 37.4% for the interval.

• PlayStation noticed its gross sales rise 2.9% to $13.5 billion for the six months ending September 30, whereas revenue reached $2.6 billion (up 57%). This was helped by stronger gross sales of its companies, plus first-party video games corresponding to Marvel’s Wolverine, which has bought 2.4 million copies up to now. Nonetheless, {hardware} gross sales are falling, down from 4 million in monetary Q2 2025 to 2.6 million this time round. The corporate has now elevated its forecast for the 12 months by 6%.

• Guildford Video games Competition returns on Friday, February 19, and can function talks from Larian, EA and Supermassive Video games.

That’s it at present! Be part of us subsequent week for a little bit of John Romero and our bumper GTA particular. Have a stunning weekend.