We’re starting to focus on the release of Grand Theft Auto 6. We’ve been thrown around for the last year with reschedules and delays, but now we have a release date of November 19 (for consoles, we’re still waiting for news on a PC version) and Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has assured fans that this will be the real deal, for sure.
Now that we know when GTA 6 will be in the hands of us mere mortals, Zelnick says the real question is how many of us do you think can get a sick day and how many records the game will break.
Because Zelnick is so sure of GTA 6’s imminent success that he literally can’t imagine a world in which a player who can play the game decides not to. “If you have a console and you are over 17 years old, explain to me how you decided: ‘No, not GTA 6, [I’m] Aren’t you interested?'” Zelnick says in an interview with The Game Business (via GameSpot).
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I’m not a betting man, but I would certainly say that GTA 6 getting a huge number of players at launch is not a stretch by any means. However, I’m not so sure I’d stretch it as far as to say that all eligible players will, without a doubt, play GTA 6.
Some players are simply not interested in the world that GTA offers. You have hardcore political sim lovers, cozy gamers, and people who exclusively play The Sims. But even taking this into account, Zelnick stands by his claim.
“That’s not happening,” Zelnick continues. “We’re still committed to the kind of entertainment we fell in love with at 17. Think about it if I say to you, ‘What kind of music do you like?’ Like everyone else, you’ll say, ‘Oh, I listen to everything.’ By the way, that’s simply not true. But if I say, ‘Okay, you’re alone, you have an hour and all you’re going to do in that hour is listen to music,’ and [I say] I want you to have the best time possible and the most relaxing time, you will listen to the music you listened to when you were 17 years old.
“If you fell in love with video games at 17 and you’re 40, guess what you’re still doing? Playing video games. That’s why the [gaming] The cohort continues to grow as we age. HE [gaming investment advisor] “Matthew Ball doesn’t think so, but our experience here at Take-Two is that we are benefiting from industry tailwinds.”
Okay, sure. There will be many older players excited to play GTA 6 and rekindle their nostalgic love for the games, but what about the young ones? You know, those young degenerates who weren’t even alive when most GTA games were released. Well, Zelnick isn’t worried about that either.
“I think we’re going to have a lot of 17-year-olds playing GTA 6,” says Zelnick. “I don’t think there is any risk of [them] Saying, ‘Oh, I didn’t play [GTA] 5, or 4, or 3, or 2, or 1, I don’t appear [for 6].’ On the contrary, I think we’ll be able to get all the appropriate people involved in GTA 6.” So there you have it folks: in Zelnick’s ideal world, all players will undoubtedly play GTA 6. I think it will be mandatory at this point.
