Following confirmation that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be launching in the fall of 2025, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has said the company is “highly confident” it will meet that target, while also setting some rather lofty expectations by calling the game “an experience that no one has seen before.”
In a recent CNBC interview (spotted and shared by Twitter user Dyllie), Zelnick was asked about the decision-making behind choosing a release window.
“Well, there is slippage in the industry, and we’re not immune from that,” said Zelnick. “However, we narrowed the timing because we are highly confident in that timing.”
He explained there are multiple elements; one of which is determined by how many bugs are in the game. While the team at Rockstar will obviously be aiming to minimize that amount by launch, Zelnick added, “In the case of an extraordinary title, for which there are extraordinary expectations, it’s not really about bugs. It’s about creating an experience that no one has seen before, and Rockstar Games seeks perfection.”
I don’t doubt the team at Rockstar is working extremely hard on GTA 6, and it’ll probably be a very good game. However, fan expectations already incredibly high for it (it’s been over 10 years since Grand Theft Auto 5, after all), and suggesting GTA 6 won’t be like any other video game feels like going overboard. It’s bound to be technically impressive, but I can’t imagine it’ll be that much different from previous GTA games. If anything, if it’s nothing like those games, that only risks upsetting long-time fans who are looking for a new GTA.
Zelnick’s comments can arguably be written off as him simply generating hype and not meant to be taken at face value. However, Take-Two itself likely has the highest expectations of all for GTA 6. GTA 5 made $1 billion in just three days (via IGN) when it launched in 2013; is Take-Two expecting similar results? If anything, it may want even better results since GTA 6 is no doubt proving more expensive to make than its predecessor, but a lot has changed in the past decade. Game prices have gone up and not everyone’s willing to drop $70 on a new release, especially when everything else has been getting more expensive too.
As for that fall release date, Zelnick has acknowledged Take-Two isn’t immune to “slippage,” suggesting a delay isn’t entirely out of the question. That said, Take-Two will probably avoid pushing GTA 6 back if it can, and only agree to a delay as a last resort. After all, given the fan expectations, GTA 6 does stand to make a lot of money and Take-Two will want that income ASAP. It’s not going to want to wait till the game’s ‘perfect,’ since such a goal is frankly unobtainable, or at the very least take up even more development time.
