After GTA VI: The AAA Release Calendar for Winter 2026 and 2027

For most of 2026, the video game calendar has had a hole in it shaped like a single date. Publishers big and small moved their games away from November 19, the day Grand Theft Auto VI finally launches, and the result is a quiet late November followed by one of the most crowded first halves of a year in memory.

Here is the whole map, from Rockstar's launch to the end of May 2027. Every date below was set by the publisher and confirmed as of November 13, 2026. Dates can still move, and in this industry they often do.

November and December: GTA and a few brave neighbours

**November 19: Grand Theft Auto VI (PS5, Xbox Series X|S). After two delays, Take-Two reaffirmed the date on its August earnings call and described pre-orders as exceptional. Digital pre-loading began on November 10**, and there is still no PC version announced. The only question left is how it plays.

The rest of the year is mostly ports and remasters, which is exactly what you would expect a fortnight after the biggest launch of the decade:

• December 3: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for Switch 2, plus Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 on PC
• December 4: Monster Hunter Wilds arrives on Switch 2, nine months after Capcom's PC fixes turned the game around
• December 11: Path of Exile 2 leaves early access with its 1.0 launch on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S

The same December 3 date also brings two revivals of classic series: Thief: The Dark Project Remastered and Rayman Legends Retold, both on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2. Neither is a blockbuster, but together they show the season's mood: with GTA taking up most of the oxygen, publishers are filling December with familiar names rather than risking new ones.

January and February 2027: the crowded quarter

Early 2027 is where the games that fled GTA have landed.

• January 15: Stranger Than Heaven (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S), the new game from the creators of Yakuza
• January 26: Forza Horizon 6 on PS5, eight months after its Xbox and PC launch. Panic Button handled the port
• January 28: Metroid Ravenous (Switch 2), a new 2D Metroid announced in September, and Until Dawn 2 (PS5)
• February 4: Metro 2039 (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
• February 12: Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2)
• February 18: Persona 4 Revival (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S), with a Switch 2 version on May 20
• February 23: Fable (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S)

Fable is the one to watch. Playground Games, the studio behind Forza Horizon, is rebooting Lionhead's fairy-tale RPG in a "reimagined" Albion. It was meant to launch in autumn 2026 and moved to February to get out of GTA's way. The June trailer introduced Isabel, the Hero of Wraithmarsh, voiced by Hayley Atwell, and teased the return of the villain Jack of Blades from the 2004 original.

March to May: Square Enix, Sony and a returning Bond

• March 4: Wo Long 2 (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2) from Koei Tecmo
• March 18: 007 First Light finally reaches Switch 2, nearly a year after the other versions and after two delays
• April 7: Exodus (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
• April 8: Final Fantasy VII Revelation (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2), the final part of Square Enix's Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy
• May 20: God of War Laufey (PS5)

The last date is new. On November 4, Santa Monica Studio pushed God of War Laufey from February 16 to May 20, 2027, saying it wanted the time for finishing touches. It is the only big PlayStation first-party game with a date in the first half of 2027, which puts a lot of weight on one release. Sony's other 2027 plans have not yet been dated.

Still waiting for a date

These are officially set for 2027 but have no day yet:

• Kingdom Hearts 4
• The Duskbloods, FromSoftware's Switch 2 exclusive
• Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance
• Pokemon Winds and Waves (Switch 2)
• State of Decay 3
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II for Switch 2

WGC's five to circle

If you only have room for a handful of games before summer 2027, these are our picks, in date order:

1. Grand Theft Auto VI (November 19). Obviously. Thirteen years after GTA V, it is the event of the decade. 2. Forza Horizon 6 on PS5 (January 26). The best-reviewed Xbox game of 2026, scoring 91 on OpenCritic, finally reaches PlayStation owners. 3. Metroid Ravenous (January 28). Nintendo's 2D Metroid games have a strong record, and January is usually a quiet month for Switch 2. 4. Fable (February 23). The biggest question mark on the list, and the most interesting one. 5. Final Fantasy VII Revelation (April 8). The end of a seven-year remake project, and a test of whether Square Enix can stick the landing.

Honourable mentions go to God of War Laufey, which needs a strong showing after its delay, and Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, the first new Lara Croft adventure in years.

Why it matters

Delays used to be a sign of trouble. In 2026 they became strategy. Fable, God of War Laufey and a dozen smaller games all chose to avoid GTA VI's launch window, and publishers clearly believe a few months of distance matter more than a holiday release.

For players, that is mostly good news. The weeks after GTA will be quiet enough to actually play it, and the first five months of 2027 will deliver a big new game almost every week.

WGC's take: the 2027 games most worth watching are the ones with something to prove. Fable has been away from the main series since 2010 and is now in the hands of the people who made Forza Horizon so likeable. God of War Laufey is Santa Monica's first big release since 2022. And Final Fantasy VII Revelation has to land the ending of one of the most loved stories in games.

By the numbers

• 2: delays for GTA VI before landing on November 19, 2026
• 13: major releases dated between January 15 and May 20, 2027 in the list above
• 3 months: how far God of War Laufey slipped, from February 16 to May 20
• 8 months: gap between Forza Horizon 6 on Xbox and on PS5
• 7 years: from Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020) to Revelation (2027)

What to watch

The next big moment is The Game Awards on December 10, where publishers usually reveal trailers and dates for the year ahead. Expect some of the "2027" games above to get a day then. Until it arrives, catch up on the year's best with our 2026 AAA year so far and 2025 review.