The CEO of Rockstar Games‘ parent company, Take-Two Interactive, has been interviewed about GTA 6, worries of violence, AI usage and more. This interview was conducted following Take-Two’s recent earnings reports which was shared with investors. We’ll be taking a look at the most interesting comments made by Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick in this TV interview.
GTA 6 Release Date Confidence Makes Money
On Monday morning, Zelnick made an appearance on CNBC‘s Squawk Box (paywalled, we pay for the service and transcribed the interview below). We typically see Strauss on TV the following business day or so after an earnings report so this is not out of the ordinary.
Just before the interview took place, the company’s share price continued going up following last week’s results. It broke the all-time share price record for the company; you can read more about that here.
When the TV host asked Zelnick about the company’s successful quarter and how GTA 6 has affected the share price, he said GTA 6 is not the main reason why but their whole lineup as a collective is. In the past few weeks we’ve seen rival publishers like EA, Ubisoft etc report disappointing results so Zelnick was asked what Take-Two are doing differently. Strauss said “we’re trying to be the most creative, most innovative and most efficient company in the entertainment industry.”
GTA 6 Takes Time Due To Perfection
GTA 6 became a specific topic of conversation in the interview as you’d expect. Zelnick was asked what does Take-Two and Rockstar put into it, what does it mean and how do you get ready for it. He responded with “What Rockstar Games puts into all of their titles is a desire for creative perfection which is why it takes a long time and why it’s complex and of course nervous making. We don’t claim success until it occurs. GTA V has been a standard bearer not just for our company but for the industry over three generations.”
“There’s enormous anticipation inside our company and in the marketplace as a whole. We could not be more excited.” – Strauss Zelnick
Use Of AI In GTA 6?
When asked about graphics and how much of it is AI, Zelnick said “We’ve been using digital tools for since the very beginning. I would say the interactive entertainment business in an innovator within what people call AI now. I don’t doubt we’ll continue to innovate. I think it is worth noting though the genius is human. The tools might be digital but the creative genius is human.” For a long time now, software that uses “AI” has aided creation of games such as procedural generation.
The follow up question pressed Strauss on the video game actors’ strike who take issue with Take-Two and other companies using AI for voice work in games. Strauss said “we believe in protecting humans and paying human beings and we believe we ought to pay for their work if it’s replicated by AI after the work is done so that is the right thing to do. We don’t think it is right to ask someone to perform once and use their work over and over again and not pay for it. That’s not right.” GTA 6 is not impacted by the strike as the game started initial production beforehand.
GTA 6 Graphics To Cause Violence?
Sticking with the topic of graphics, another host jumped in and asked if Strauss has any concerns with anything happening in the game happening in the real world due to the more realistic graphics. The host expressed back in the day, you did not feel as immersed as what we’re seeing with GTA 6 for example and how there have been debates over games causing gun violence.
In response to this, Strauss said “Well, to be clear, entertainment doesn’t create behaviour. Entertainment reflects behaviour. Entertainment gives people an opportunity to release feelings and engage in feelings. Entertainment tells stories. The notion entertainment creating behaviour has been tested and disproved over and over again. We have a test case: when you watch TV and movies of any times they’re very realistic looking so I’m not worried about photorealistic video games.”
A follow up question wondered if game developers need photorealistic graphics due to their cost and ability to find success without them such as Take-Two’s Borderlands. Does it affect how they think about the evolution of certain games? Zelnick said thinking about GTA, that’s a question for Rockstar Games because GTA “is fictional but creates caricatures of the real world but does not import the real world entirely. So all of the brands are created inside GTA. We don’t have any real brands in there.”
In another topic of conversation, previous comments about his view on the FTC under President Biden were brought up. In November, Zelnick believed the FTC was “misguided” and that President Trump’s reduced regulation can be positive. Today, he said “we’ll go back to appropriate enforcement of our antitrust laws and I’m all for appropriate regulation.” Meanwhile Trump’s tariffs (which are temporarily paused) will lead to game discs costing more. You can learn more about that here.
CEO Praises GTA 6
In a contrast of interviews, Zelnick could be seen on a TikToker’s podcast a few weeks ago. Of course, the CEO was pressed on GTA 6 among other things. It was as fun interview as he played into the memes and hailed the game as extraordinary and worth waiting for. You can read all of the interesting pieces of that interview here.
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Pingback: GTA 6: Take-Two CEO addresses AI, violence concerns, development timeline, and release speculations - Market Research Correspondent
I wonder how the CEOs of GTA V, GTA IV, and GTA San Andreas are feeling about this.