Take-Two CEO: Maintaining Anticipation for GTA 6 More Important Than Announcing Release Date

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick explained the company’s strategic decision to withhold the exact release date of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6  despite confirming the game remains on track for a Fall 2025 launch.

According to Zelnick, the anticipation surrounding GTA 6 is unprecedented in the entertainment industry. “The anticipation for that title may be the greatest anticipation I’ve ever seen for an entertainment property, and I’ve been around the block a few times, and I’ve been in every entertainment business there is,” the CEO stated.

Zelnick contrasted Take-Two’s marketing approach with competitors who outline their release schedules years in advance. “We’ve found that the better thing to do is to provide marketing materials relatively close to the release window in order to create that excitement on the one hand, and balance the excitement with unmet anticipation,” he explained.

This calculated strategy comes as market analysts predict GTA 6 will be the biggest entertainment release of 2025. The game’s expected impact is so significant that, according to a report from The Game Business, multiple major publishers are already preparing to adjust their own release schedules to avoid competing directly with Rockstar’s juggernaut.

“Rockstar games always suck a lot of money and, more importantly, time out of the market,” one unnamed major publisher reportedly stated. “We don’t want to be anywhere near that. We are working up multiple different plans for our titles.”

Another senior executive in the industry emphasized the scarcity of consumer attention rather than financial concerns: “Even without GTA, it’s immensely difficult to find free time for new games to shine. Time is the real scarcity for us, not money. It’s tough out there.”

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