Summary
Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive’s CEO Strauss Zelnick has elaborated on the decision to skip a PC launch forGrand Theft Auto 6. The much-awaited Rockstar title was announced back in December 2023 exclusively for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, with no mention of a PC release, which baffled fans of the platform who were looking forward to playingGrand Theft Auto 6on their rigs.
As the next entry in the mega-popularGrand Theft Autofranchise, anticipation forGrand Theft Auto 6is at an extremely high level, especially after its first trailer back in December. Fans of the series are eager to delve back into Vice City and experience Rockstar’s parody of the state of Florida, Leonida. However, those who game primarily on PC will unfortunately miss out on the fun, which has led to some outrage. To help players understand, anex-Rockstar developer recently explainedGTA 6’s PC omission, and now, the CEO of Take-Two has spoken on the matter as well.
Speaking at aTD Cowen conferencein the past week, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was questioned whetherGTA 6skipping PC at launch is “set in stone,” or if the game could be announced for the platform at a later date. “It doesn’t seem to me that either would be set in stone. But Rockstar has an approach to platforms which we’ve seen before, and they will make more announcements in due time,” replied Zelnick. From his quote, it can be surmised thatRockstar is most likely continuing its traditionof staggering console and PC releases withGrand Theft Auto 6.
Rockstar’s Previous Mainline Games Are No Strangers to Delayed PC Releases
As implied, this isn’t something new, asRockstar has followed the same PC-later conventionforGrand Theft Auto 4,Grand Theft Auto 5, andRed Dead Redemption 2, with the latter two’s PC ports taking over a year to launch. Curiously, Zelnick hinted at this gap potentially being shorter forGTA 6.“I do believe that the right strategy for our business is to be where the consumer is, and historically, what this company has done is address consumers anywhere they are, on any platform that makes sense, over time.” Given enough demand from the PC userbase, Rockstar could fast-track development ofGTA 6’s PC version.
For now, though, both Take-Two and Rockstar seem to be focusing exclusively on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S forGrand Theft Auto 6’s fall 2025 launch. This could be a positive sign for the game hitting its release targets, as optimizing for fixed-configuration consoles is more time-efficient than a near endless series of PC hardware permutations, as well as easier for quality assurance, which is something Rockstar titles have almost always nailed.GTA 6will be the largest, most ambitious entry in the franchise by far, so it’s understandable why Rockstar would want to get it right with consoles on the first go.
