GTA 6 and use of AI by developers as a big topic in a new interview with the big boss leading the game’s parent company. Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has provided new insights into Rockstar and Take-Two as part of a new interview. The CEO was interviewed by The Game Business‘ Chris Dring on Tuesday and we’ll be taking a look at his comments on GTA VI.
Dring pondered how the long wait for GTA VI will lead some fans who had plenty of time as young adults in 2013 for GTA V won’t have as much time to dedicated to the new release later this year. Zelnick dismissed that as being a problem as he says “Oh, I think we’re gonna have a lot of 17 year olds playing GTA 6.” After all, there will have been a 13 year gap between GTA V and VI. Children then are now old enough to buy GTA VI without needing a parent.
The CEO adds that he does not think there is a scenario where teens will go “If I didn’t play (GTA) five or four or three or two or one, I’m not showing up.” Instead, Zelnick is confident Rockstar will bring in “every appropriate individual” in GTA 6. He also quipped “if you have a console and you’re over 17, just explain to me how is it that you’ve decided no, no, GTA 6, not interested. I just don’t see it.” Fans will be happy to see a little humour from the CEO in regards to Grand Theft Auto VI.
Ads In GTA VI
Onto the topic of advertising. Some fans have speculated that GTA VI could be riddled with ads from the real world. However, Zelnick shuts this down. Whilst free to play games can have such deals in place, Take-Two’s boss does not think titles people pay $70-80 should have them outside of something like NBA 2K that does have ads in the game’s basketball arenas which, well, is realistic. Although he notes they are not much of a contributor to earnings revenue.
“Very difficult for me to believe that we would want to have interstitial advertising in a game that someone paid 70 or 80 bucks for would seem unfair.”
AI Making Rockstar Redundant?
Let’s shift our focus to AI now and how it could affect games like GTA in the future. When Take-Two last published its earnings to investors, they were doing tremendously well. Except stocks fell as Wall Street got scared over Google’s AI game model. This was surprising to many and even “stunned” Zelnick.
He tells The Game Business that “it’s quite obvious that creation tools are beneficial for our industry” and not a threat to them. Below is a quote from the interview where he mentions the difference between a Rockstar made Red Dead Redemption and an AI one.
“These tools may help you create assets, but that won’t help you create hits. There are loads of assets out there now. It doesn’t matter if you push a button to create an asset, or it takes you six weeks, at the end of the day, you have an asset. And thousands of mobile games are launched every year, and there are only a handful of hits.
Equally, sure, you can create assets that might look like a big release, that might look like NBA 2K or EA Sports FC or Red Dead Redemption but creating a hit of that magnitude is a completely different animal and does require human engagement. It does require human creativity.”
Strauss says “technology cannot and will never” make the best entertainment on the planet; that’s Take-Two’s mission. He thinks this is where the point has been missed by investors. Plus, the CEO thinks AI tools do not in any way level the playing field. Rightly so, he points to the tens of thousands of games that are made every year. Most popular games come from the few large publishers but some indie titles can become breakouts.
“The notion that somehow new tools would allow an individual to push a button and generate a hit. Market a hit. And bring it to many millions of consumers around the world… it’s a laughable notion. It’s never been the case with entertainment.
I think it will have an enormous impact across all industries in terms of making mundane office work essentially more efficient or unnecessary.”
So what do you think to Zelnick’s comments? They do seem encouraging from someone high up in the industry that is being rattled by AI usage in recent times. Let us know down in the comments section below.
For more GTA VI news updates, stay tuned to RockstarINTEL.
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