Vice: Magic City Mayhem launches November 18 — one day before GTA 6
Vice: Magic City Mayhem, the top-down 8-bit Zelda-like fused with GTA: Vice City, releases November 18, 2026 — one day before GTA VI's November 19 launch. Developer Jurassic Sunset Games confirmed the date with an official release-date trailer that openly jokes about beating Rockstar to the punch. The game comes to Steam, Switch, PlayStation and Xbox on day one.
The answer: November 18, 2026
Vice: Magic City Mayhem launches on November 18, 2026 — one day before GTA VI. Developer Jurassic Sunset Games confirmed the date with an official release-date trailer, and the studio did not even pretend it was a coincidence: the trailer description reads "One day before GTA6. SUCK IT, @RockstarGames" (Official release date trailer). GameSpew picked the story up on September 20, framing it as the boldest piece of counter-programming of the autumn.
What the game actually is
Magic City Mayhem is a top-down 8-bit retro action-adventure — a self-described Zelda-like with a GTA: Vice City skin. You play Dutch, one of Magic City's most feared enforcers, on a quest to rescue his one true love, Sophie, through neon nightclubs, scenic beaches and, apparently, raptor-infested yachts (Steam).
The pitch is explicit about both parents. From the developers: they blend "the immersive exploration, intense combat, and mind-bending puzzles of Zelda" with "the outrageous storylines, vibrant world-building, and dark humor of Vice City" (Nintendo Everything). Concretely, the trailer lists 2D hack-and-slash combat with ranged elements, dynamic boss fights, environmental secrets, an item and weapon upgrade system, and dungeons built around puzzles — with eight bosses on the checklist.
A Kickstarter game that beat its target
Jurassic Sunset Games is a small studio based in West Palm Beach, Florida, with a team whose credits include Telltale Games and EA Tiburon (GamesRadar; Gaming Retro). The project was crowdfunded in autumn 2025: the Kickstarter ran from September 30 to October 30 with a modest $10,000 goal, which it cleared, and the studio said at the time the game was already around 80% complete (GamesRadar).
What was missing was a date, and it took almost a year to arrive.
All major platforms on day one
The trailer states the game is "coming to all major platforms on day one" — Steam on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox, with pre-orders already open (Official release date trailer). Store listings are still catching up: the Steam page continues to show a Q4 2026 window, and the PlayStation Store concept page still lists the date as to be determined (Steam; PlayStation Store).
The practical consequence: no staggered rollout, no console exclusivity. If you want to play it on November 18, you can — on whatever you own.
Why this is a bigger story than it looks
The 2026 calendar has been defined by publishers keeping their distance from Rockstar. September was unusually crowded as studios pushed launches in before the GTA VI window closed, and several teams have said openly they are steering clear of November 19. Most of the industry has treated the date as a black hole.
Jurassic Sunset Games has done the opposite and turned it into a marketing campaign: a retro Vice City homage landing 24 hours before the biggest Vice City game ever made. It works because the two products cannot compete. GTA VI is a $70-plus blockbuster on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S; Magic City Mayhem is a small pixel-art adventure on four platforms. What the indie gets is a headline that puts its name in the same sentence as Rockstar's.
The 2002 connection nobody should miss
There is a real irony here. GTA VI returns to Vice City, in the modern day, inside the fictional state of Leonida. The 1980s hair, pastel suits and neon that people associate with the name come from GTA: Vice City (2002) — not from GTA VI.
Magic City Mayhem, an '80s-inspired pixel game steeped in that exact iconography, is therefore arguably closer to the original Vice City mood than GTA VI itself will be. For players who spent two decades asking for a return to the 1986 Miami fantasy, November 18 may end up being the more literal answer.
GTA VI itself is unaffected: it still launches November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with no PC date announced.
