While recent rumors had indicated that Rockstar Games will delay the physical release of the highly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 to ensure that there are no leaks, CEO of parent company Take-Two Interactive, Strauss Zelnick, has confirmed that there is no such plan. Responding to a question about the physical release possibly being delayed during a recent earnings call (via IGN), Zelnick said, “That’s not the plan”.
The possibility of Grand Theft Auto 6 skipping a physical release at least for launch came about last month courtesy of the person behind the leaked release date of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on PS5, Graczdari. The leaker claimed to be associated with European game distributors.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is currently on track to be released on November 19th on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Zelnick has said as much during Take-Two’s latest quarterly earnings presentation, noting that the company will be kicking off its marketing plans this Summer.
“Our execution throughout Fiscal 2026 has been extraordinary, and we are highly confident as we approach Fiscal 2027 – which promises to be groundbreaking for Take-Two and the entire entertainment industry – led by the November 19th release of Grand Theft Auto 6 with Rockstar’s launch marketing set to begin this Summer,” he said. While he didn’t go into details about these marketing plans, a new trailer will likely be released by June.
Zelnick had also recently confirmed that Rockstar Games is not making use of generative AI for the creative aspects of developing Grand Theft Auto 6. While he praised the technology for its potential to bolster tools, he also went on to say that he doesn’t believe that tools by themselves could create “great entertainment properties.”
“On the topic of AI, I’ve been enthusiastic since the very beginning,” he said. “This company’s products have always been built with machine learning and artificial intelligence. We’ve actually always been a leader in the space, and right now we have hundreds of pilots and implementations across our company, including within our studios. And we’re already seeing instances where generative AI tools are driving costs and time efficiencies.”
“That said, do I think tools by themselves create great entertainment properties? No, there’s no evidence that that’s the case and it won’t be the case in the future. Specifically with regards to GTA 6, generative AI has zero part in what Rockstar Games is building. Their worlds are handcrafted. That’s what differentiates them. They’re built from the ground up, building by building, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood. They’re not procedurally generated, they shouldn’t be. That’s what makes great entertainment.”
A report from back in November had also indicated that Rockstar Games might bring Grand Theft Auto 6 to the Nintendo Switch 2. According to leaker NateTheHate, the company has been testing builds of the game on Nintendo’s latest console. He did note that this testing won’t necessarily lead to an actual release on the platform, however.
While you wait for Grand Theft Auto 6, check out its last two trailers.
