Head of GTA 6 publisher wants players to have enough time to play. As a result, he is narrowing the release window for Rockstar's new game
Strauss Zelnick prefers to give players time to play, which may affect the release of GTA 6. Mike Ybarra doubts whether Take-Two has control over the developers of GTA 6.
The head of Take-Two Interactive has somewhat narrowed down the release window for Grand Theft Auto 6, albeit not in a direct way.
We have known for a long time that GTA 6 is expected to hit the market around the end of 2025 - to be precise: in the fall. The publisher once again confirmed this release window as part of the company's latest financial results summary. Nevertheless, players still haven't learned the exact launch date (nor have they seen the gameplay or the second trailer).
Time for playing hits is essential
A certain tip - or rather a confirmation of an obvious fact - is an interview by IGN with Strauss Zelnick. The CEO of Take-Two Interactive confirmed that the company plans to release its games in a way that gives players time to have fun. In other words, the company will not launch its titles in such a way that they compete with each other for the attention of consumers.
No, I think we will plan the releases so as not to have that be a problem. And what we found is when you're giving consumers hits, they tend to be interested in pursuing other hits. In other words, I've said this many times, even when the hits aren't ours, they're a good thing for the industry. In this case, we hope that the hits will largely be ours. So we feel really good about it and I think that we will time our releases so as to respect the consumer's need to spend a lot of time playing these hit games before they go on to the next.
Borderlands 4 before GTA 6 after all?
It's obvious that the publisher prefers not to release two "hits" at once. Especially when one of them is GTA 6 - the most anticipated game of the decade (or even two). Even other publishers take Rockstar Games studio's creation into account so much that the lack of an exact release date paralyzes their actions.
With such an assumption, we can at least try to narrow down the release window of Grand Theft Auto 6. So, Borderlands 4 will hit the market on September 25 and is expected to be one of the most important releases of Take-Two Interactive this year. A recent company report suggested that B4 would launch after GTA 6, but this was apparently because the release date for B4 (let alone the exact date) was not yet publicly known at that time. The autumn release of GTA 6 before B4 can rather be considered a fairy tale (the calendar autumn begins on September 23rd).
Let's also be honest: Gearbox Software's game would have no chance of success if the specter of the GTA 6 premiere was hanging over it. So, considering all the pieces of this puzzle, the launch of the sixth GTA would need to occur much later: in November or even December, if we adhere to the current game release schedule.
Mike Ybarra comments: Borderlands 4 "doesn't matter"
However, not everyone is convinced by Zelnick's words. The former head of Blizzard claims that every other company will delay the launch of their games to make room for GTA 6 - even those belonging to the publisher. Mike Ybarra stated this in response to an article by IGN (via X/GamesRadar).
The American even went so far as to say that Borderlands 4 "doesn't matter" and "no one has control" over Rockstar Games, not even Take-Two Interactive. Ex-CEO of Blizzard believes that the fourth Borderlands must be released with a "6+ month" gap between it and GTA 6 - or it will be "dead" on day one.
It may seem like a huge exaggeration unless we consider not only the irritation of publishers but also, to put it mildly, the hysteria surrounding any information about GTA 6. Even those found on the Moon.
