GTA 6 Must Break New Ground, Says Take-Two CEO
Even though Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 5 is still selling like hotcakes ten years after its first release, fans’ desire for a new installment in the series’ signature open world setting grows daily. Though it was announced that Grand Theft Auto 6 was in the works last year, fans have been wondering how much longer they will have to wait.
It’s unclear what Rockstar is planning, but for the time being it appears to be focused only on refining the game it already has in development. That’s what Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive, which owns Rockstar, says.
Perfection
In a recent interview with The Aarthi and Sriram Show, when asked about how Rockstar strikes a balance between trying new things and sticking to the series’ established formula when creating a new Grand Theft Auto game, Zelnick reiterated his long-held belief that the studio’s overarching goal is to “seek perfection.”
“I think that’s a challenge that the folks at Rockstar face every time there’s a new iteration of Grand Theft Auto,” Zelnick stated. It has to be completely new and different from anything else out there, but it also has to capture the spirit of Grand Theft Auto that we all love so much. That’s going to be quite the test for the group.
As for Rockstar’s response, all you have to do is aim for perfection; settle for nothing less, and you’ll eventually join us.
Even when it has mainly stayed to the series’ long-serving template, the Grand Theft Auto brand hasn’t exactly been hesitant to explore. For example, Grand Theft Auto 4 marked a radical departure from the series’ previous installments by emphasizing realism and groundedness, while Grand Theft Auto 5 offered numerous playable characters.
According to rumors, Grand Theft Auto 6 will be set in Vice City and will have two playable protagonists, one of them will be a female character, making it the first Grand Theft Auto game to have a female protagonist.
Take-Two anticipates net bookings of more than $8 billion in FY 24/25 (April 2024–March 2025) as a result of the release of the highly anticipated open world sequel.
Bringing Difference is the Key
Using the upcoming release of Civilization: Beyond Earth as an example of a long-running hit series getting a new entry, Strauss remarked:
“So every time we put out a new Civilization, there’s a major change in the experience, and we’re always a bit anxious about whether our audience is going to embrace that change. However, the developers of Civilization, Firaxis, have an uncanny knack for taking the series in fascinating new directions without alienating fans. And they’ve done it before, and I’m sure they will again”.
Strauss probably has the same level of faith in Rockstar, but it’ll take a while before we find out what they have planned for the next Grand Theft Auto game, especially after the hack that exposed sensitive information last year. However, a finance call held last week gave us reason to believe that GTA 6 would be released before the end of the year. We’ll just have to see what happens.
You can watch his full interview here:
