While Rockstar’s and Take-Two Interactive’s decision to make the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 showcase exclusive to Netflix has drawn some criticism, the parent company’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, has said that this is only the beginning. In an interview with GamesIndustry, Zelnick called the Netflix showcase “one of the hors d’oeuvres” leading up to the game’s November 19th launch.
“There’s appetizers, main course and dessert to follow,” he explained about the marketing plans for Grand Theft Auto 6, and went on to call Netflix “a great marketing partner for us, and distribution partner,” referring to the companies having worked together in the past to release smartphone versions of older GTA games. In general, Zelnick has referred to the deal between Take-Two and Netflix as “a groundbreaking partnership that Rockstar arranged.”
As for how well pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 might be doing, Zelnick reiterated his previous statement that the numbers have been “unprecedented and astonishing,” noting that “they are also so unprecedented that we just don’t know how it’ll translate into sales.” He also noted that “we are very encouraged by the results that we’ve seen so far.”
“Nobody’s ever seen anything like this before, at Take-Two or in the industry. One of the reasons we’re not changing our guidance is, to be clear, we haven’t sold one unit yet. You can cancel a pre-order. We’re kind of allergic to victory laps round here, and we certainly don’t do the victory lap before the event.”
Zelnick went on to discuss the future of hardware, noting that while “rising cost of hardware is not a good thing,” he “doesn’t see it as a headwind” for the company’s future potential sales. This comes down to the fact that open systems are generally becoming more popular. “The world continues to move to open systems, and that will continue. 20 years ago, on a console release that was available on PC at launch, PC would represent 1-2% of overall sales Today that can be 40% or 50% in a similar situation, and I believe that’s going to grow.”
He also discussed the potential of game streaming that can lead to “machines that weren’t game machines before will become game machines”. This could even “potentially 10x the install base” over the next three years if low-latency streaming is developed. However, ultimately, these aren’t really statements about the company’s own plans. Zelnick acknowledged that these are simply his own opinions on the matter.
“I’m not putting it into our numbers, so I’m not that confident. I was really just sharing my opinion, and it could be entirely wrong, but there are enough companies working on this who either are already hyperscalers who have hyperscaler ambitions and capital that I believe we will likely get there.”
In the meantime, Grand Theft Auto 6’s showcase is going to include an extended trailer, and will make its Netflix debut on August 27th at 3 PM ET. Those without subscriptions to the streaming service will be able to catch it on YouTube at 9 PM ET.
