Take-Two CEO says GTA content pace will change over next decade

Take-Two Interactive Chief Executive Strauss Zelnick told IGN on November 9, 2026 that the nature and velocity of content from the company’s franchises, including Grand Theft Auto, will look dramatically different over the next decade. The interview covered GTA 6 expectations, GTA Online, and the decade to come. Grand Theft Auto 6 releases November 19, 2026, only on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Zelnick said it is not going to be delayed again.

Zelnick did not name Grand Theft Auto 7 or provide a release window for it, and said faster content velocity could mean more frequent updates and online content rather than a quicker sequel. He indicated the time between Grand Theft Auto titles will now be shorter than the time between Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto 6. TweakTown noted Zelnick specifically included Grand Theft Auto in his comments, pointing to a shorter gap than the one between Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto 6. “The nature and velocity of the content we’ll see from our iconic franchises, including GTA, will look dramatically different over the next decade,” Zelnick said, though one outlet reported an expectation that Grand Theft Auto 7 could arrive in less than a decade while another reported he gave no name or window.

Phil Hooker, Rockstar North’s head of development, told Jason Schreier last month that players would not have to wait another eight years for Rockstar’s next game. The studio’s workforce increased from 2,441 employees at Red Dead Redemption 2’s launch to 4,711 people spread across 12 offices. Rockstar’s development heads told Bloomberg that the engine, tools, and team built for Grand Theft Auto 6 will let the studio move more quickly. TweakTown presented the Bloomberg remark as Rockstar’s direct explanation for shorter development times.

Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games have not officially announced a next game after Grand Theft Auto 6. Zelnick suggested at the iicon event in 2026 that Rockstar Games might release a future L.A. Noire follow-up. Beebom notes rumors that L.A. Noire 2 could be Rockstar’s next major game, and that Zelnick hinted at a potential L.A. Noire sequel during the iicon event this year. Neither company has officially announced a follow-up.

Zelnick said pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 have surpassed the publisher’s original projections, and that pre-order interest kept climbing to levels Take-Two had never seen before. He said the company expects its strongest year in history. Zelnick made the pre-order comments while speaking with GamesIndustry.biz and Variety ahead of Take-Two’s latest financial results, and the publisher’s Q2 fiscal 2027 results release used similar language. Take-Two maintains its full fiscal year 2027 net bookings forecast of about $8 billion, which depends heavily on Grand Theft Auto VI sales after launch.

Sensor Tower data updated on November 3, 2026 indicated Grand Theft Auto 6 reached 7.71 million digital pre-orders worth an estimated $751 million in gross revenue. PlayStation 5 accounted for around 74 percent of those pre-orders while Xbox Series X|S represented 26 percent. These are unofficial market estimates, and Take-Two did not publish official pre-order figures.

Zelnick declined to disclose the exact number of Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-order copies sold, saying Take-Two will share more information once the game officially launches on November 19, 2026. FandomWire reported the remark after Zelnick spoke to GamesIndustry.biz and Variety on November 9, noting the company would not declare victory before consumers receive the game ahead of its November 19, 2026 release.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is a 212GB game. Preloading starts on November 10, 2026, Hannah Sage, Take-Two’s executive vice president of finance and chief accounting officer, said, to reduce launch impact. Zelnick said Take-Two is focused on launch delivery and intends to do its best to give all customers a smooth delivery experience for Grand Theft Auto 6.

Zelnick described himself as optimistic and looking forward to the launch. IGN asked whether there was a risk of another delay given past conversations, and Zelnick replied that it would not be delayed again. Grand Theft Auto VI was originally slated for an earlier release before Rockstar Games pushed the launch back.

Grand Theft Auto Online is still getting updates 13 years after it launched. Zelnick said Grand Theft Auto Online has been successful, resilient, and has continued to grow over the years. Take-Two intends to keep supporting it, and the company feels good about the online component. IGN asked about the impact of Grand Theft Auto 6 on Grand Theft Auto Online from the following week onward.

The publisher’s strategy includes maintaining engagement with consumers after launch. Zelnick cited Grand Theft Auto Online as a prime example of continuing to reach players after release.

NBA 2K27 sold 4 million units and is Take-Two’s second best release of the NBA 2K series in history, though it came in below forecast. Zelnick said the crowded release period and Grand Theft Auto 6’s impending launch may have affected NBA 2K27’s performance so far, but Take-Two is thrilled with how the title is performing. Take-Two plans to launch more NBA 2K27 content for the rest of the year and expects the title to perform even better than it already has.

The Borderlands franchise has sold over 100 million units, and Zelnick said he believes it can meaningfully grow its audience. He said there is plenty more to come for the Borderlands franchise, that Gearbox is highly optimistic about its future, and that he is excited about all things Borderlands going forward.

Zelnick said producing a hit is a human effort and that making a successful game was hard in the past, is hard now, and will be hard going forward. “Hit creation remains the purview of human beings,” he said. He had dismissed, as of March 2026, the notion that artificial intelligence could manage a project as large as Grand Theft Auto VI.

GameLuster places this earlier rejection alongside Zelnick’s November 9 comments about AI tools making asset building easier without making the core job easier. Take-Two is strengthening technical and legal protections against AI-powered compilations and decompilations that raise piracy worries. Zelnick said AI-powered piracy should be manageable because games have been shielded so far by large file sizes, closed console ecosystems, and online requirements.

Zelnick said the threat from AI-fueled game clones and PS5 jailbreaks is a creative matter rather than a financial one, and that Take-Two protects its intellectual property vigilantly. The comment came in response to questions about Grand Theft Auto 6 appearing on PC unofficially before Rockstar’s release and whether AI companies should block game reverse engineering. Zelnick said all companies should protect intellectual property, their own and everyone else’s, and called it ironic if AI companies stomp on others’ intellectual property while hoping theirs is protected. The remark came after questions about Anthropic’s move to block Claude from reverse engineering video games and whether OpenAI should take similar steps to prevent game cloning.

Take-Two’s industry-leading commitment to releasing the highest quality entertainment, reaching players in new ways and places, and maintaining engagement after launch drives the change in content nature and velocity, Zelnick said. He made the remarks alongside Take-Two’s Q2 fiscal 2027 earnings while discussing the company’s support for labels and franchises including Grand Theft Auto over the next decade.