There’s something oddly refreshing about a game industry CEO who just says it like it is. No corporate speak, no sugarcoating—just pure, unfiltered honesty. That’s exactly what we got from Shams Jorjani, CEO of Arrowhead Game Studios, when he sat down with The Game Business to talk about the elephant in the room: GTA 6.
His take? The delay is basically a gift from the gaming gods, giving Helldivers 2 “six months of uninterrupted work” before Rockstar’s juggernaut arrives to, in Jorjani’s words, “blot out the sun” for everyone else.
Let’s be real—when was the last time you heard a CEO openly admit that another game is going to wreck their plans? It’s like watching someone calmly acknowledge an incoming meteor while sipping coffee. But Jorjani isn’t panicking. He’s pragmatic. And honestly? That’s the smartest move he could make.
The calm before the storm
When asked how GTA 6’s delay to November 19th, 2026 affects Arrowhead’s planning, Jorjani kept it refreshingly simple. The studio tries not to obsess over what else is launching around their release windows, but come on—GTA 6 isn’t just another game. It’s the game. “GTA has obviously been very hard to avoid,” he admitted, which might be the understatement of the year.
Here’s where it gets interesting: Jorjani doesn’t think Rockstar delayed the game on a whim. “I don’t think you go out and delay stuff until you’re sure that the new date is going to stick, and I think this new date’s going to stick,” he said. Translation? This November 2026 date is happening, so everyone better prepare accordingly.
His strategy? Don’t change a thing until May 2025. “Ask me again in May of next year what we’re doing then because right now I don’t think we’re doing anything different from November.” Smart. Why scramble now when you’ve got breathing room?
Not all studios are created equal
Drawing from his time at Paradox Interactive, Jorjani pointed out something crucial: not every studio needs to fear GTA 6. Paradox, for instance, crushes it every Q4 with their grand strategy games because nobody else is making Crusader Kings or Europa Universalis clones in December. Their audience is niche, dedicated, and frankly, not the same crowd lining up for GTA.
“They don’t target the same media, they don’t target the same influencers,” Jorjani explained. Paradox can release whenever they want because their players aren’t going anywhere.
But for studios like Arrowhead? “For all the rest of us, it’s going to be terrible.”
Ouch. But also, accurate.
The black cloud that looms over everything
Here’s the nightmare scenario that’s keeping publishers up at night: GTA 6 isn’t just going to dominate sales—it’s going to monopolize attention. Media coverage, influencer streams, YouTube videos, Twitch channels—everything will be GTA, all the time. Other games won’t just compete for players; they’ll compete for the mere awareness that they exist.
Adam Lieb, CEO of marketing platform Gamesight, called GTA 6 “a black cloud that looms over everything,” and he’s not exaggerating. The game is so absurdly broad that it competes with nearly every genre: first-person shooters, third-person action games, single-player narratives, multiplayer chaos—you name it, GTA 6 probably does it.
And if the rumors are true about Rockstar planning to turn it into “the next UGC platform,” then even juggernauts like Fortnite and Roblox should be sweating. Imagine GTA 6 with user-generated content. That’s not just a game—that’s a digital ecosystem.
What’s next for Helldivers 2?
So what’s Arrowhead doing with their unexpected six-month grace period? Right now, they’re focused on stability and consistency, aiming for patches “roughly every two weeks” before hopefully rolling out fresh content by December.
As for what that content might be? Nothing’s officially confirmed, but leaks suggest some juicy additions: Illuminate Cultists, a new Stealth Warbond, and—wait for it—a lava planet that looks like it was ripped straight out of Star Wars. If that doesn’t get the Helldivers 2 community hyped, I don’t know what will.
The real question is what happens next fall. Will Arrowhead try to squeeze in a major update before GTA 6 drops? Will they go dark and wait for the storm to pass? Or will they find some clever way to coexist with the biggest game release in over a decade?
Whatever they decide, at least they’ve got time to figure it out. And in an industry where timing is everything, sometimes a delay from your biggest competitor is the best news you could ask for.