„Our Decisions Are Rational.” Take-Two CEO Rejects Possibility of Releasing GTA 6 and Company's Other Hits for Game Pass on Day One
The head of Take-Two believes that putting big launch games in Game Pass doesn't bring long-term profits. For this reason, we will have to buy GTA 6 at full price.
Grand Theft Auto VI is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated games of all time. Just take a look at the trailer of the game, which has gathered over 204 million views on YouTube since its premiere. In the era of ubiquitous subscriptions, some people are probably wondering if they will be able to visit Vice City as part of the Game Pass service. The response comes from the CEO of Take-Two, who absolutely ruled out this possibility.
GTA 6 will not appear in Game Pass
During an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Strauss Zelnick stated that in his opinion, offering new AAA games in a subscription service doesn't make sense. Consumers are accustomed to buying products at full price, and a change in this area could turn the operations of his company upside down.
Microsoft seems to think otherwise, as Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available in Game Pass in October. Zelnick claims that such action encourages consumers to use the subscription only for a certain period of time. He added that Microsoft's actions won't affect how Take-Two will work.
No, it won't affect our decisions, because our decisions are rational.
It seems that we can't expect GTA 6 to be released on Game Pass on launch day. It's possible that this will change over time, as the publisher included some older titles in the service.
Old generation problem
Next, the topic of the hardware on which GTA 6 will be released was discussed. The vast majority of GTA 5 players still use 9th-generation consoles, especially the PlayStation 4. Meanwhile, the upcoming release is currently scheduled exclusively for PS5 and XSX/S, which could cause some worries. However, Zelnick doesn't consider this to be an issue, citing the high sales of older games and the inevitable shift of players to newer hardware.
Within a couple of years of the launch of new hardware, usually usage of the prior generation hardware does tail off meaningfully. But I think that will be the case here as well, it's just a matter of time.
Long process of developing games
It's no secret that Rockstar Games takes an exceptionally long time to develop their games. The last installment of GTA debuted in 2013, and since then only Red Dead Redemption 2 has been released. Zelnick claims that in the case of Take-Two, games such as GTA or the upcoming Judas, which have been in development since 2014, don't represent the whole industry.
He gave the example of mobile games, which are often developed even faster than expected. In the case of large games, the company owns titles such as NBA 2K and WWE 2K, new versions of which are released every year. They exemplify how the production process has stayed the same, yet the quality of games continues to rise.
Premiere of GTA6 is scheduled for autumn 2025. From the latest information, we know that this date isn't threatened.
