Reviewing Major Gaming Milestones and Industry Shifts Since the Launch of GTA 5

Thirteen years have passed since Grand Theft Auto 5 originally launched in September 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. In the time leading up to the upcoming arrival of GTA 6, the video game landscape has experienced profound transformations. When GTA 5 first debuted, phenomena like Fortnite did not exist, the live-service boom and subsequent crash had not yet taken place, and E3 was still a thriving annual summer convention. Nintendo had also just introduced the Wii U.

Among the most notable developments over the past decade is the sheer volume of releases and platform expansions for enduring titles. Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which originally launched in 2011, has received a comical number of ports across multiple generations of hardware, including the Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and various VR platforms, alongside a text-adventure version for Amazon Alexa devices. Meanwhile, GTA 5 itself expanded far beyond its original consoles, launching on PC in 2015, followed by versions for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.

Platform exclusives have also shifted in unprecedented ways. Microsoft famously chose to launch Halo: Campaign Evolved simultaneously across Xbox Series X|S, PC, and PlayStation 5, marking a major departure from traditional Xbox exclusivity. In the franchise space, Activision released over a dozen mainline Call of Duty titles alongside spin-offs like Call of Duty: Mobile and Call of Duty: Warzone, prior to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Ubisoft's Watch Dogs series also delivered three open-world entries, spanning the original game, Watch Dogs 2, and Watch Dogs Legion, before going quiet.

Corporate leadership and industry events have faced sweeping changes as well. Andrew Wilson took over as CEO of Electronic Arts in September 2013, eventually leading the company toward an agreement to be acquired by an investor group led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund in August 2026. Meanwhile, traditional industry showcases suffered permanent declines; after being canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic, E3 was ultimately shuttered permanently. The pandemic period also triggered a massive surge in gaming consumption and corporate hiring, which experts later identified as an unsustainable bubble that preceded years of studio closures, widespread layoffs, and shifting investment trends.