Rockstar shifts focus to next projects after GTA 6 launch

Strauss Zelnick said on November 9, 2026, that Rockstar Games completed Grand Theft Auto 6 and will focus on what comes next after the game launches on November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, announcing the next project in the fullness of time. The Take-Two Interactive chief executive made the remarks during the company’s second quarter fiscal 2027 earnings call, where he said Rockstar’s marketing campaign is fully baked, and the organization must deliver the product with an A+ technical job. “They have done their very best work, and it’s going to come to consumers soon,” Zelnick said. He also said Grand Theft Auto 6 will not face another delay and that Take-Two focuses on giving customers a smooth delivery experience.

Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders have been live since June 25 and are running far in excess of Take-Two’s expectations, with earlier reports indicating 8 million copies sold ahead of launch. Zelnick declined to give solid pre-order figures because the company does not want to claim success before it occurs.

PlayStation confirmed Grand Theft Auto 6 is the most pre-ordered game in PlayStation Store history ahead of the November 19 release, while Xbox issued a similar announcement about pre-order performance on the Microsoft Store.

In a phone interview with IGN ten days before the November 19 release, Zelnick said he is feeling optimistic and said, “I’m looking forward to the launch.” Take-Two’s executive vice president of finance and chief accounting officer, Hannah Sage, said the preload starts the following day to reduce launch impact.

Grand Theft Auto 6 will run at 30 frames per second on PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S, while PS5 Pro players get enhanced visual fidelity through PSSR and ray-traced shadows instead of higher frame rates. Rockstar Games said it is pushing PS5 and Xbox Series X/S to their absolute limits to bring the world of Leonida to life while maintaining the density and visual fidelity of all environments and inhabitants.

The physical edition includes a digital download code and double-sided poster rather than a game disc. Xbox said the game will be playable through Xbox Cloud Gaming on Xbox One, and PlayStation announced Remote Play support on PS Portal and smartphones, while both companies excluded PC from cloud gaming options. The game requires a 212 gigabyte download, leading to concerns that the release could crash the PlayStation Store or jam up the internet as millions worldwide download the game.

Any decision about a Grand Theft Auto 6 disc release, as well as announcements about a PC launch or a Nintendo Switch 2 release, rests with Rockstar Games, according to Strauss Zelnick. Zelnick said on November 9, 2026, that updates would come directly from Rockstar because information always comes from Take-Two’s labels, and he gave no update on when a traditional disc edition or PC or Switch 2 release might arrive.

Unnamed reports suggest the Grand Theft Auto 6 PC version could arrive in early 2027, though Take-Two has not provided an update on timing. Zelnick said decisions on a traditional disc edition, a PC launch, and a Nintendo Switch 2 release belong to Rockstar and will come from the label in the future.

Rockstar Games has not announced what its next project is, and Take-Two has not announced Rockstar’s next project. Many people expect Rockstar’s next project to be a new version of Grand Theft Auto Online using Grand Theft Auto 6’s gameplay, setting, and visual fidelity, while how existing Grand Theft Auto Online players would migrate remains uncertain.

Strauss Zelnick said the nature and velocity of Take-Two content from iconic franchises including Grand Theft Auto will change dramatically over the next decade, driven by quality, new ways to reach players, and post-launch engagement. He said “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 never named Grand Theft Auto 7 or gave a release window, saying the phrase could mean more frequent online updates rather than a faster sequel. He indicated the time between Grand Theft Auto titles will be shorter than the gap between Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto 6.

Grand Theft Auto Online continues to receive updates 13 years after its launch, which Zelnick cited as a leading example of post-launch engagement.

Rockstar Games has grown from 2,441 staff at the launch of Red Dead Redemption 2 to 4,711 employees across 12 offices, and its development heads told Bloomberg that the engine, tools, and team built for Grand Theft Auto 6 will allow the studio to move more quickly. It has been eight years since Red Dead Redemption 2 came out. Take-Two said it will continue to support its labels, each of which has its own bespoke strategy and approach.

Take-Two reported $1.38 billion in game revenue for the July-September quarter, according to Variety, despite Grand Theft Auto 6 releasing digitally without a physical disc. Strauss Zelnick said in the fiscal report that with pre-orders tracking well above expectations, Take-Two expects to deliver a historic year. Take-Two said in its Q2 FY2027 results that Grand Theft Auto 6 pre-orders are tracking well above initial expectations and that “the numbers will speak for themselves soon enough.”

The company’s NBA 2K27 launched on September 9, sold 4 million units, and became the second-biggest launch in the company’s basketball series, but fell below sales expectations. Strauss Zelnick said the timing in a crowded release period and the approaching Grand Theft Auto 6 launch influenced consumer behavior regarding NBA 2K27. Many publishers deliberately avoided launching games in November this year because most eyes would be on Grand Theft Auto 6, so many games came out in September instead.

Zelnick called NBA 2K27 an immensely successful title and said more content planned for the rest of the year should help it perform even better. Take-Two is launching more content than ever before for NBA 2K27 for the rest of the year and expects the title to do even better than it already has done. Zelnick described the shortfall as a case of suffering from success, telling Bloomberg that if Take-Two’s lunch is going to be eaten he would rather be the one eating it, but he said Take-Two remains thrilled with how the game is performing.

Strauss Zelnick said Take-Two intends to keep supporting Grand Theft Auto Online, describing it as very successful, resilient, and able to keep growing over the years. He made the statement during an IGN interview about Grand Theft Auto 6’s expected impact on GTA Online once the game launches next week. Take-Two’s financials describe continued support for GTA Online with new content and ongoing events. Zelnick described everyone as wanting the Rockstar experience as Rockstar intended.

Strauss Zelnick described AI-fueled game clones and PS5 jailbreaks as a creative rather than financial threat to Take-Two’s business, saying the company protects its intellectual property vigilantly. He backed Anthropic’s decision to block Claude from reverse engineering video games, suggesting OpenAI and other AI companies should do the same. The recent explosion in AI-fueled game clones and PS5 jailbreaks raised the chances of Grand Theft Auto 6 appearing on PC before Rockstar releases it officially.

The United States Army is granting soldiers four days of leave for the Grand Theft Auto 6 launch, while some companies are closing stores and players are preparing vacation days to play. Zelnick said he is feeling optimistic about the launch.