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July 23 is about to be the busiest gaming day of the summer
Thursday 23 July is shaping up to be one of the busiest video game release days of the summer, with several major franchises launching titles simultaneously. Developers appear to be spacing out this year's release calendar to avoid clashing with Grand Theft Auto 6's 19 November launch, resulting in an unusually packed schedule across late summer and early autumn.
Headline releases on the day include Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, a 1v1 fighter for Switch, PS5, PC and Xbox Series X featuring twelve characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra; Splatoon Raiders, Nintendo's first true single-player entry in the Splatoon series for Switch 2; and Halo: Campaign Evolved, a ground-up remake of the original Halo: Combat Evolved launching in early access on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X to mark the franchise's 25th anniversary. Also arriving that day are a Switch 2 port of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, Disgaea Mayhem, and the point-and-click adventure Theropods.
In short
- 23 July sees a bumper crop of major game releases across platforms
- Highlights: Halo: Campaign Evolved, Splatoon Raiders, Avatar Legends fighting game
- Packed schedule likely designed to avoid clashing with GTA 6's November launch
Explained simply
Video game releases are strategically timed events. Publishers and developers rely on launch dates to maximise sales, and a blockbuster release can overshadow other games launching at the same time.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is one of the most anticipated games of the year, arriving on 19 November. Its expected prominence is causing developers to shift their release plans, timing launches before or after that date to avoid being overshadowed.
When a particularly major release approaches, developers tend to cluster their launches before or after it, seeking their own window of player attention. July 23 falls within the compression of releases ahead of GTA6's arrival.