It's not a stretch to say that GTA 6 is probably the most anticipated game of all time, with the 12-plus years between GTA 5 and it undoubtedly causing that fervor to grow more intense as time goes on. The new GTA 6 trailer blew up instantly, hitting over 19 million views on YouTube within four hours, but even Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has found the hype somewhat surprising.
During the company's latest earnings call, the CEO of Take-Two (Rockstar Games' parent company) talks about GTA and what it means for the industry, saying, "Grand Theft Auto 5 has been the standard bearer, not just for our company, but for the industry. Since it was launched, it's not only survived through three console generations, it's thrived, and here it is this many years later, and still the number one title."
However, even with GTA 5's overwhelming success and the GTA fever in the industry over the last few years, the response to the trailer still took Zelnick by surprise.
"Obviously, 475 million trailer views in 24 hours tells you something. It's not just that, 'Wow, that was a great trailer.' It tells you something more than that. And we, of course, do market research around here, and the market research that we've done is pretty astonishing."
Despite the fact that GTA 6 is obviously going to be a massive release when it comes to sales, Zelnick says, "we're not in the business of claiming success until it happens."
Of course, the other side of this is that GTA fans are afraid that the game will cost up to $100, and you have to wonder if that has factored into that "pretty astonishing" market research. Undoubtedly a game that is this hyped up will have a large number who will eat the cost, but a higher price point could end up biting Rockstar.
