Recently, there was finally an update regarding a new GTA installment , and now Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has spoken out. He explained why one shouldn’t look too much at the predecessor GTA 5 and GTA Online when it comes to a new title.
Who is speaking? Strauss Zelnick is the CEO of Take-Two, the parent company of the GTA developer Rockstar. He spoke to the portal gamesindustry.biz on various topics – including the upcoming installment of the GTA series.
This is what Zelnick says: Zelnick was asked about the “new GTA installment”, which was recently discussed in a Rockstar blog post and is said to be GTA 6. GTA 5 and GTA Online are still extremely successful and are also getting a next-gen upgrade now – would these titles not be jeopardized by a potential GTA successor?
Zelnick, however, is not afraid of such “cannibalization”. One must be “fresh” and “always ready to provide consumers with what they want. The moment you try to protect the past, you become irrelevant.”
Apparently, one does not have to take GTA 5 or Online into account after the long years of waiting for GTA 6 – especially since a release date is still not officially known at this point: “I am excited that Rockstar is working on the next version of Grand Theft Auto,” Zelnick said: “I have no doubt it will be great, and the past shows that the Grand Theft Auto catalog will continue to be successful.”
Speaking of the GTA catalog: Zelnick also addressed the release of the GTA remakes. Financially, it went well, but the games had significant quality issues: “I think we were all a bit disappointed at first about the quality,” Zelnick said: “We are very grateful that most of these issues have been addressed. But there is still more to do.”
No GTA 6 for almost 9 years
In fact, Zelnick explained back in November 2021 why it is good to delay the release of big games. The long waiting times build more and more anticipation, especially for major franchises like GTA or Red Dead Redemption, which is important.
It’s a bit like the James Bond film series: One also knows that there won’t be a new release in the next two or three months after a release. However, if a title is bad, it carries more weight.
The original release of GTA V was nearly 9 years ago. The game was first released on September 17, 2013, for PS3 and Xbox 360, and then continued in various versions on different consoles. It seems that this phase regarding GTA has been long enough.
The blog post that reignited interest in GTA VI stated: “With every new project we undertake, our aim is always to go well beyond what we have delivered so far – and we are excited to confirm that active development for the next installment of the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ series is in full swing. We look forward to sharing more as soon as we are ready.”
If you’re passing the time with GTA Online: Here you can find the current solo guide for Cayo Perico.
