Strauss Zelnick, chief executive officer of Take-Two Interactive, is once again doing his best to project confidence that Grand Theft Auto VI will not be delayed from its current release date.
In a recent interview with CNBC (spotted by GameSpot), on the subject of Grand Theft Auto VI hitting its currently stated release date, Zelnick said, "My level of conviction is very, very high, obviously. Rockstar does have a lot of other things going on, but this is of course the primary focus."
Prior to Grand Theft Auto VI getting delayed out of 2025 and Rockstar announcing its May 26, 2026 release date, Zelnick did his best on multiple occasions to publicly express confidence in Rockstar hitting its 2025 release window for Grand Theft Auto VI. To be fair, there was no specific release date at the time, just a month and a year, meaning that Rockstar could be a little more loose with when exactly GTA VI would arrive. And this game is such a major release that you'd think Rockstar and Take-Two wouldn't call their shot so specifically if they weren't confident they would make it.
But the number of times Zelnick seemed to have a "very high" level of conviction that GTA VI wouldn't miss its 2025 window does make comments like this that much more difficult to believe.
Sure, it's been over a decade since Grand Theft Auto V came out, and while it was being worked on in some capacity in that time, Rockstar has been focusing on GTA VI's development "in earnest" since 2020. Zelnick also previously called the delay to 2026 "important" to ensure that Rockstar had the chance to "seek perfection" with this release.
But even Zelnick cushioned his comments to CNBC to say that he and Take-Two are trying not to "pump expectations."
"We try not to pump expectations. Rockstar's whole stock and trade is to have these extraordinary expectations and still beat them. I know that's their goal. I know it's going to be an amazing game," said Zelnick.
We'll see how things look in six to seven months from now, when we're on the doorstep to its current May 26, 2026, release date. Hopefully by that time we'll have a clear idea if Zelnick was right to express confidence here.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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