GTA 6 boss reveals disastrous fate he's trying to avoid, amid "terrifying" expectations

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has discussed Grand Theft Auto 6's potential success, acknowledging that sales below a certain level would be disastrous.

It has been more than a decade since GTA 5 released, and with GTA 6 still scheduled to release later this year, no game has ever garnered quite this level of anticipation.

But part of that anticipation comes from GTA 6's lengthy development cycle; one that is estimated to have made it the most expensive game ever made.

That level of pressure is not lost on Zelnick, who acknowledged in an interview with Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that the run-up the release is "very, very exciting," but also "terrifying. Because the expectations are so high."

For GTA 6, sales of 10 million – an enormous figure for any other studio – would be disastrous for Rockstar, something Zelnick discussed with regard to the company's release model.

"At a lower level, that's true of Take-Two's entire business plan on the console side," he said. "Development costs have gone up and up.

"And we really do aim to deliver the highest quality entertainment on earth. And that is costly.

"And AI influence is not withstanding. We haven't seen those costs decline yet. Maybe we will. Maybe we won't."

For Zelnick, this is part and parcel of being a studio of Rockstar's scale, noting that their pursuit of creating "blockbuster games" allows them to spend much more than their rivals.

"That's a high-stakes game for big boys only, and I'm cool with it," he remarked.

He went on to describe how the funds that Rockstar spends are allocated towards supporting their talented developers.

"We have the most amazing creative teams. We not only encourage them to pursue their passions, we insist that they do it.

"We try to give them unlimited financial, creative human resources and they aim to deliver perfection."

With six months to go until GTA 6 is set to release, fans are eagerly awaiting the release of a third trailer, while others are expecting a further delay into 2027.

Whether GTA 6 does indeed launch this year or not, the only thing that is certain is that it is going to sell a phenomenal number of copies.

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