Take-Two CEO stresses that GTA 6’s delay is necessary to ‘make the best thing anyone’s ever seen’ even though he doesn’t ‘play videogames at all’
The news of Grand Theft Auto 6’s delay was quickly followed by a chorus of reassuring words about how great it’ll be when it finally releases next year, alongside a couple of solemn headpats for those of us who got our hopes up for a 2025 release, closely followed by a second trailer. But Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick isn’t done reassuring players that GTA 6 will be a hit.
“Rockstar Games is trying to create the best thing anyone’s ever seen in entertainment, not just interactive entertainment, and that’s a tall order,” Zelnick says in an interview with CNBC. “I think consumers have huge hopes for the title. We just launched the second trailer to 475 million views in 24 hours, setting a new record—the last record incidentally was ours as well.”
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The hype is certainly still there for GTA 6—it’s been sticking around for the last 12 years, before anything was even announced. But all of this excitement probably puts even more pressure on the devs to make something that lives up to all the expectations, which is why a short delay is probably for the best.
“The delay itself is really a reflection of the desire to polish and create the best possible experience for consumers,” Zelnick says. “We as a company have been known not to have slavish devotion to release dates, but rather to seek the highest quality entertainment, and that’s really supported our success over many years.”
While it’s reassuring to hear just how well development is going for GTA 6, if I had a nickel for every time Zelnick said that GTA 6 is striving for perfection, I’d be four nickels closer to actually being able to afford it on release:
Zelnick certainly seems convinced that Rockstar has perfection within its grasp when it comes to GTA 6, but that theory probably hasn’t been tested by Zelnick, as he’s adamant he doesn’t play videogames.
“I’m not a gamer,” Zelnick continues. “I don’t play videogames at all, I’m not the Consumer-in-Chief. I share my opinions pretty openly, but I think being the Consumer-in-Chief in the entertainment business as a CEO is probably a mistake.
“I wasn’t the Consumer-in-Chief in the movie business or the television business or the music business. Even though I can certainly read a script and I definitely love music, I was a musician. My role is to attract and motivate the best talent in the business and then get out of their way.”
Zelnick pretty much proves his own point, as despite not being a gamer by his own admission, Take-Two isn’t exactly suffering for it. Take-Two’s stock is up 6% year on year, despite the GTA 6 delay, as is referenced in the CNBC interview, and Rockstar keeps on raking in the cash from Red Dead Redemption and GTA Online.
