Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick believes GTA 5 is “the most technologically advanced game on the market” even after 12 long years since its launch in 2013. I don't know how much this softens the blow GTA 6 is delayed againbut this is a remarkable point.
Zelnik answered questions during a financial call that took place just a few minutes after the announcement GTA 6the latest delay, so naturally this topic came up quite often. One investor asked Zelnick about the atmosphere in the studio after the delay and how much of the decision to delay was due to polish.
As you might expect, Zelnick declined to give any details, but emphasized the importance of the improvements and how GTA 6 needs to live up to Rockstar's standards.
“I think Rockstar's culture is extraordinary and we all work hard to strive for excellence,” Zelnick said. “And these are not just words. I mean, Rockstar releases generally have Metacritic scores above 95 on Metacritic, not generally speaking, with very few exceptions, and GTA 5 has been the standard-bearer not only for our company, but for the entire industry for three generations of consoles.
“I would say that to this day it is the most technologically advanced game on the market, despite being over a decade old, and that doesn't happen by accident. Rockstar's culture is a culture of performance. The Take-Two culture as a whole, which is reflected in all of our labels, is a commitment to excellence, teamwork and kindness, and it's a recipe that works very, very well. I can't deny it at any point in time if things don't go your way. like, there's some disappointment, but we're very good at shrugging it off and picking ourselves up and playing another day, and that's what we've always done.”
Zelnick's claim seems bold on the surface, and it's certainly debatable given that new AAA games are benefiting from all sorts of improvements that simply weren't there when GTA 5 was developed, but his words are vague enough that it's hard to challenge him without knowing the specifics and parameters he's using to make that claim.
If anything, I think Rockstar's own Red Dead Redemption 2 is objectively more technologically advanced than GTA 5, but I guess it all depends on how you define a technologically advanced game. Either way, there's no doubt that GTA 6 will take the crown when it releases in November 2026.
Following another GTA 6 delay that he called unlikely, the Take-Two CEO said “bad things happen” when games are rushed and uttered his favorite line: “I'm very confident about the new date.”
