September 2026 has too many new video games trying to escape GTA 6

It’s been the biggest mystery of the year: What video game publisher will have the guts to go up against Grand Theft Auto 6 this November? An empty fall release date schedule left some major questions as players waited to see where anticipated games like Marvel’s Wolverine and Control Resonant would land. After today’s PlayStation State of Play, we finally have our answer to that question: No one. November remains wide open for GTA 6 as it appears that every major holiday video game will instead try to launch in September. Good luck to anyone trying to make that work, because September just became a 200 car pile-up.

Prior to Tuesday’s State of Play stream, we knew that a handful of major games were already planting their flag in September. Blood of the Dawnwalker recently announced a Sept. 3 launch. (Phantom Blade Zero had Sept. 9 locked down for a while before it was delayed to October.) The heavy hitters will continue on Sept. 15, which Sony has now claimed for Marvel’s Wolverine. Things will really heat up the following week, though. Tuesday’s State of Play stream revealed that Control Resonant will launch on Sept. 24, the same day as Silent Hill Townfall. Onimusha: Way of the Sword will drop one day later on Sept. 25. That’s three of the year’s most anticipated games landing in a two-day span.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve just narrowly avoided that disaster with an Oct. 2 release date, but it’s still flying too close for comfort. Deluxe Edition holders will get access to it on Sept. 28, so I’m counting that as a September release. The only game that seemed to get away from the dogpile was Rayman Legends Retold, but not by much: It will release on Oct. 1, which, look, if five bucks is eight bucks, that’s September.

That’s just scratching the surface, as a few other games are stuck in that crossfire, too. Dune: Awakening will come to PS5 on Sept. 22 with new content, and RPG-heads have Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter waiting for them on Sept. 17, and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 is on the menu for Sept. 17.

Keep in mind that today’s State of Play is only the beginning of what’s likely to be a busy week for release dates. A Summer Game Fest stream is scheduled for this Friday, which will most certainly fill out the rest of the fall release calendar. Considering how many games have steered clear of GTA 6’s Nov. 19 date already, you can assume that September is going to look a whole lot busier by the end of the week.

At this point, I’m starting to wonder if some of these games would stand a better chance in and around November. Does Silent Hill Townfall really have a significant enough audience crossover with Grand Theft Auto that it couldn’t launch a few weeks before it in time for Halloween? Would something like Rayman Legends Retold do just fine in early December considering that it’s targeting kids? Publishers are undoubtedly going to be asking questions like this when the dust clears this week. Don’t treat any September release dates that you learn about this week to be set in stone aside from those for the biggest games. This fall is going to be one messy game of musical chairs.