GTA 6 is officially two weeks away – to the day, at the time of writing – and after its multiple delays, it's felt like an extremely long time coming. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick clearly stands by those decisions, though, as he seemingly implies that Cyberpunk 2077's disastrous launch is an example of why knowing when to run is a strength, not a weakness.
In a new interview with the Wall Street Journal (below), the boss of the Rockstar Games owner is asked about the game's delays and how they unfolded. While Zelnick freely admits that "these are very difficult decisions to make," he argues that when "your mission is to make the best entertainment on earth, and part of your three-part strategy is to be the most creative, sometimes you have to make these expensive and inconvenient decisions in service of that mission and goals."
Zelnick elaborates: "There are a lot of companies who have a great mission statement, a stated strategy, and a culture, but then when push comes to shove, you know, they do something that's at odds with that."
He clarifies that doesn't mean he'll "just say yes" any time someone asks him for something – in fact, he refers to another situation at Take-Two where he conversely said, "actually, we're shipping." Zelnick quickly adds: "Oh, by the way, thankfully I was right. Imagine if I'd been wrong."
However, he continues, folks often forget, "what happens when people take the other approach? The other approach being, 'we're slavishly devoted to a schedule, and we're just going to ship despite what is going on.'
"I'm not going to throw any competitors under the bus, but if you know anything about the video game business, in the past few years, there was a very high-profile release that fell into this category, and they shipped, and they had to pull the title after shipping."
While he doesn't name it, it sounds like Zelnick is referring to Cyberpunk 2077. Barely a week after its notoriously buggy launch, which was especially disappointing after years of hype, CD Projekt Red opted to temporarily pull it from the PlayStation Store and offered refunds to folks who'd already spent their money on it.
Obviously, The Witcher studio eventually managed to turn things around for Cyberpunk, and many updates later, it's been very successful and is widely celebrated as a fantastic RPG, but the shadow of its extremely rocky release is ultimately always going to loom over it to some extent.
13 full years since the launch of GTA 5, neither Rockstar Games nor its owner, Take-Two, would have wanted a similar outcome for GTA 6 – a game that's got expectations so high I'm personally wondering if it'll actually be able to meet them for fans, even if it ends up being a 10/10 release. But holding back the release until everyone is confident that it's actually ready is a good start and will hopefully leave Rockstar in the best position it can be come November 19.
GTA 6's weather will rock your boat, damage your plane, and send Vice City denizens seeking shelter.
