Ahead of GTA 6, Take-Two CEO says he’s “not worried about AI creating hits” because it’s built on recycled data: “Big hits […] need to be created out of thin air”

If you've been online in the last few years, you'll know full well we're being inundated with AI slop everywhere (look no further than the embarrassing Studio Ghibli ripoff AI art that's been flooding sites over the last week). And some game companies are getting in on the slop production business, with a leaked Sony demo showing an AI version of Horizon Zero Dawn's Aloy. But Take Two boss Strauss Zelnick isn't too worried about AI games becoming big hits in the games industry – and it's not just because nothing can compete with GTA 6.

Speaking to Carolyn Dailey for her book The Creative Entrepreneur, Zelnick gave his advice on being successful in the games industry, saying, "Be the most creative: Meaning, hire the best creators and insist they pursue their passions. Encourage them to always try something new and to stay away from derivative and copycat works." Adding, "in Hollywood it’s common to pitch your product as 'it’s a combination of Spiderman meets Batman meets Back to the Future'… We don’t do that here; we want something that you’ve never seen before."

Zelnick maintains that the biggest hits in every medium have been "unexpected" and, due to generative AI being built off the backs of the actual talented artists creating things, Zelnick doesn't see a hit coming from AI. "This is why I’m not worried about AI creating hits, because it’s built on data that already exists. It’s backward-looking. Big hits are forward-looking and therefore need to be created out of thin air. Being the most creative means not just thinking outside the box; it means there is no box."

Zelnick talked about AI a bit more in the book, saying that AI users who think they "can push a button and say, 'Create the next GTA 6'" are completely wrong.