Two huge November games, and an industry that can't copy either one

The Verge’s Andrew Webster has published a column titled “New Zelda and GTA represent a games industry that no longer exists”, and I read it the way I read most things now: grumbling, then nodding. This is an opinion column about that opinion column, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

The setup is simple. Grand Theft Auto VI and the Ocarina of Time remake land within weeks of each other this month, and Webster frames them as two series big enough to make a shared cultural moment, with the rest of the industry having cleared out of the way. ¹ He is right about the clearing. Almost every other major release moved up to avoid GTA, and Nintendo is the lone exception, putting its remake out on November 5. ¹²

Here is my stance: the games are not the problem, and I would not call either one a relic. They are what happens when a company is allowed to finish something. GTA VI is a sequel 13 years in the making. ¹ The Zelda remake was rebuilt from the ground up for Switch 2, with a new 3D look, voiced cutscenes and the option to hum the ocarina songs instead of pressing buttons. ² That is a lot of effort spent on one thing, and I will say it plainly: I like it. That is the whole of my generosity for the month.

What has become the relic is the margin for everyone else. Revenue estimates for GTA preorders alone run from $1 billion to $4 billion, which explains why every publisher dreams of its own version. ³ Meanwhile Battlefield 6 sold 7 million copies in three days and its publisher still cut staff at several studios, and Halo Studios lost 268 jobs this September. ³ A game can win and the people who made it can still lose. That is a business model, and it is a bad one.

The best counterpoint is that this is just how blockbusters work. Big events draw in lapsed players, and Circana estimates 29 percent of US gamers intend to buy GTA, which could even lift flagging console sales. ¹ Polygon also notes that Nintendo’s bet may pay off, since a Saturday Night Live sketch turned the pairing into a rivalry of equals and could pull Zelda along in GTA’s slipstream. ⁴ Fair enough. A rising tide is nice. But a tide that lifts two yachts and sinks the dinghies is not a healthy harbor.

It also matters that the two are not truly alike. Polygon argues the Zelda remake is a far smaller production that cannot hope to match GTA in sales, and that the two games reach different buyers. ⁴ I agree, and that is the lesson: Nintendo shipped something distinct instead of copying the biggest thing in the room. The industry’s habit of chasing glossy sameness is how you end up with the bland, over-long, yellow-paint-on-every-ledge games that Wired complains about. ³

What would change my mind? If the weeks after November show other publishers releasing finished, distinctive mid-size games into this window and keeping their teams, I will happily eat my words and my manual. If instead the lesson learned is simply “make it bigger,” then Webster is right and I was too gentle.

Our read: November is a gift to players and a warning to the business. Enjoy both games, but watch whether anyone besides Nintendo learns the right lesson.

Footnotes

1. The Verge, “New Zelda and GTA represent a games industry that no longer exists”. Retrieved November 1, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. IGN, “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake Fully Revealed, Release Date Announced”. Retrieved November 1, 2026. ↩ ↩²

3. WIRED, “Gaming Can’t Afford More Games the Size of ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’”. Retrieved November 1, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Polygon, “Grand Theft Ocarina Could Be Gaming’s Barbenheimer”. Retrieved November 1, 2026. ↩ ↩²