Grand Theft Auto 6, developed by Rockstar Games, is arguably the most anticipated title coming in 2025. Parent company Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick recently talked about the GTA franchise, calling it the ‘number one entertainment property of all time across all forms of entertainment’. He also touched upon the widely-discussed potential of generative AI in video games, and shared his supportive stance on the matter.
Speaking at the TD Cowen Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, Zelnick looked back at GTA 5 which released 12 years ago, and how he feels that the “world’s a different place than it was” when GTA 5 came out.
While Zelnick started his statement by saying that it is in his “nature” to “not be promotional”, the CEO did end up labelling GTA franchise, pretty much at the top of the entertainment industry. Backing that statement up, he also highlighted how the GTA 6 trailer “basically broke the internet”, gaining 90 million views in 24 hours, and thus breaking a record.
Zelnick also acknowledged that even though there is an obvious anticipation and the data point is “wonderful”, the team at Rockstar Games still has to deliver “an amazing, perfect video game” and until the company accomplishes that, “these are all just words.”
It is hard to argue against the points made by Zelnick, and it is to an extent plausible to at least assume that GTA is as huge a franchise as Zelnick believes. When GTA 5 came out, it broke all forms of expectations and records, earning $800 million on its launch day, and over $1 billion in just three days since launch. At that time, pulling in those numbers was way more than what any movie or music release had accomplished. GTA 5 didn’t let up as well, as it is still going strong after over a decade.
Also Read: Is GTA 6 Coming to PC? Take-Two Boss Has a Coy Response
Take-Two CEO on generative AI in video games
During the same conference, Zelnick also talked about generative AI and how he feels that its introduction in video games will not be eating up jobs, which has been a topic of debate lately. “Generative AI will allow us to do a bunch of things more efficiently, so we’ll turn out attention to other things. Those other things will probably still be costly and time-consuming,” said Zelnick.
He added, “I don’t think for a minute that generative AI is going to reduce employment. That’s crazy. That’s actually crazy. It’s not going to make people irrelevant. It’s going to change the nature of certain forms of employment. And that’s a good thing.”
Zelnick also gave an example of being in a WhatsApp chat with “a bunch of Silicon Valley CEOs” where the “conventional wisdom” is that AI will lead to everyone being unemployed. The Take-Two CEO feels that it is “just the stupidest thing” he has ever heard, and then added that the “history of productivity tools is that it increases employment”, value, yield, and growth.
As for video games, he also said that even though people will try to create a GTA competitor using just AI, it will not be a successful attempt.
Continue Reading: GTA 5 and More Leaving PlayStation Plus Games Catalog in June
