When GTA 6 was announced in December 2023 along with the first trailer, it was confirmed that it would only be released on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. While the lack of confirmation for PC was disappointing to many, it wasn’t a big deal either surprising given Rockstar’s track record.
In a new interview, Take-Two (Rockstar’s parent company) CEO Strauss Zelnick actually answered a question about the missing PC version along with several others on GTA and the entire company. This was held during TD Cowen’s 52nd Annual Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference on Thursday. This interview below has been transcribed and cleaned up for readability.
GTA Online and GTA V made a lot of money
The talk show host said that TD Cowen estimates that GTA V has taken $10 billion in bookings since launch. Mr. Zelnick seemed to agree that it was close, saying it was “simple math.” Next question moved to GTA VI.
The host asked, “When you think about GTA VI and what you’ve seen, are you confident that this franchise can take another leap forward in terms of revenue and reach?”
Zelnick’s response was quite lengthy and shows how big GTA has become: “The world is a different place than when we launched GTA V. What came before at that point was IV, we had some downloadable add-on content, there was no online version .” (Well, GTA IV had an online Strauss mode… just not “GTA Online”).
“It was kind of neck and neck with Call of Duty at that point. Here we are now with V, 10-11 years later, having done what he did, we are truly extraordinary. We are the number one entertainment property of all time in all forms of entertainment. When Rockstar released a trailer, the announcement of the trailer practically broke the internet. And the trailer had 93 million views on YouTube in 24 hours, which was a record, and that was just the trailer. The anticipation is huge, there’s no denying that.
However, we haven’t seen the actual gameplay from the player’s perspective yet, nor do we know if it will be broken at launch for example. Strauss knows that’s just talk right now, as he said, “It’s great, it’s a wonderful data point, and yet we still have to deliver an amazing, perfect video game. And less, until we do, it’s all just words. And if we do that, and that’s certainly what Rockstar and Take-Two want to do, the opportunity is huge, really huge.
Look at where Take-Two was, look at our market influence in 2013, now look at Take-Two, we’re the number two player in the business (…) We’re in a very different place than we were in 2013. Certainly we have the ability to support a hit title that is unmatched in the industry.”
Where is GTA VI on PC?
The next question was about GTA VI for PC and why it hasn’t been announced yet. The host told Mr. Zelnick “You’ve announced GTA VI for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, you haven’t announced it for PC, can you talk a little bit about that decision, is that set in stone or?”
“Well, no message isn’t something that can be set in stone as far as I can tell, because the only thing that happens after a no message is a message, I guess, or a continued no message, I guess and this can happen. I don’t think either will be set in stone.
But Rockstar has an approach to platforms that we’ve seen before, and they’ll be making more announcements in due course. I believe the right strategy for our business is to be where the consumer is, and historically what this company has done is reach consumers wherever they are, on whatever platform makes sense over time.”
Strauss Zelnik
In short, it neither confirms nor denies a PC port. We all expect a PC version after the release. Zelnick notes that Rockstar have a history of doing similar things with, say, GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2.
The host asked Zelnik another question: “If you’re paying attention, I know we’re not even in GTA VI yet, but we’re thinking about…”, to which Zelnik interjects with “GTA 7?” (Zelnik is obviously joking). The host continues with “I guess a few things are true. First, Rockstar would rather not have another 12 years gap between the main iterations of their franchise.
Second, I’m guessing they have really big ambitions for their live service component, which you haven’t talked about yet. But I’m sure with everything you’ve learned from GTA Online, they’ll be thinking about how to make it bigger and better. Third, Rockstar probably has other ideas it wants to work on outside of GTA in the next 10 years. So they can achieve all the things they want to do, is it a resource problem or something else?”
Mr. Zelnick did want to emphasize that Rockstar have been busy since GTA V came out and GTA VI hasn’t been 12 years: “It’s important to keep in mind that it’s not like Rockstar released GTA V and stood cross-legged hands for 12 years exactly.
We launched GTA Online, which grew into a massive, living, breathing ecosystem that continues to function and grow to this day. So the label completely transformed from a label that made big, stand-alone, monolithic games (…) to a label that is now in the live service business.
I’m doing something given the scale of this label, it’s a huge company in itself, there’s nothing more to do. It’s not a situation where there’s a 12 year product cycle, it’s 12 years of Rockstar releasing a huge amount of content. And another little title called Red Dead.
There were a lot of words with not much substance. However, we did get a handful of interesting word choices. No doubt GTA VI will be coming to PC, but when? Every time Rockstar Games know they can achieve a great PC port out of the gate.
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