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Zelnick: Rockstar under pressure to deliver something familiar yet different with GTA 6

Zelnick: Rockstar under pressure to deliver something familiar yet different with GTA 6

The CEO of US publishing giant Take-Two Strauss Zelnick has said that developer Rockstar Games has to walk a fine line when it comes to developing Grand Theft Auto 6.

Speaking to the Good Time Show podcastspotted by VGC – the exec said that the studio is under pressure to deliver something familiar, while playing around with that formula. Zelnick said that this nothing unusual – in fact, it's what Rockstar has had to do with every single Grand Theft Auto game to date.

"In the entertainment business… we adopt our hits like they’re part of us, they’re part of our family," Zelnick said. "We have a great affinity for them and we take it personally if people screw around with them, like it’s not okay if the creators make a choice that is inconsistent with how we think these hits should be developed.

“I think that’s a challenge that the folks at Rockstar face every time there’s a new iteration of Grand Theft Auto. It needs to be something you’ve never seen before on one hand, and it needs to reflect the feeling that we have about Grand Theft Auto, and that’s a big challenge for the team.

“Now, Rockstar’s answer is just seek perfection, seek nothing short of perfection and we’ll get there.”

This, of course, comes in the wake of in-development footage of Grand Theft Auto 6 being leaked online at the end of 2022 by a hacker.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.