In a window where most publishers are delaying their precious title releases to avoid clashing with Grand Theft Auto VI's November release window, the Phantom Blade: Zero game director Qiwei "Soulframe" Liang is focusing on his own game rather than worrying about GTA VI.

During the Summer Game Fest week, as other titles announced postponed or delayed releases to adjust to GTA VI's window, Phantom Blade: Zero, in fact, chose to come closer to the window, announcing a new release date of October 29, moving from the earlier window of September, which is already a stacked month in terms of game releases.

And according to Qiwei "Soulframe" Liang, GTA VI wasn't even a factor in the decision to choose a suitable release date for Phantom Blade: Zero, when asked by PC Gamer about the prospect of GTA VI and Phantom Blade: Zero's release windows being so close.

"We don't think about what's happening there. We don't even think of the competition, what's launching ahead or after," Soulframe said. "What matters is how polished the game is, and if we have one or two extra months, we can fix more bugs, do more optimizations, so that we don't need a huge day one patch."

This clearly shows a level of commitment to delivering a quality product to the fans, with Soulframe prioritizing the quality of the product rather than the timing of the release or the potential competition it may be surrounded by.

Specifically, Soulframe said the development team wanted the game to be able to run on Steam Deck, which was a tedious task, especially with the game based on Unreal Engine 5.

Avoiding September Could Be More Important Than GTA VI

As everyone is focused on avoiding GTA VI's release window, September has suddenly become a majorly competitive month, with several publishers choosing to release their titles during the month, which would give them considerable time to capitalize on the market before GTA VI's arrival.

The month of September will see big-name titles like Marvel's Wolverine, The Blood of Dawnwalker, Silent Hill: Townfall, Minecraft Dungeons II, Dune: Awakening, and many more games.

The Blood of Dawnwalker could have proven to be a straight rival to Phantom Blade: Zero, with both games based in the RPG genre and including a much darker setting.

In fact, in terms of major attention, titles like Minecraft Dungeons II, Marvel's Wolverine, and the obvious Onimusha: Way of the Sword could also have been competitors for a share of the same sub-market in the gaming industry.

And while Soulframe insists the delayed release is because of other reasons, it gives Phantom Blade: Zero a rather cleaner run in the market before GTA VI's release.

Soulframe's comments, though, would do well to rally the fans towards Phantom Blade: Zero, which hopes to dominate the combat-driven exploration RPG genre upon release.

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Written by

Abhisek Bajaj

Edited by

Zaid Quraishi