Take-Two boss says gen-AI has played "zero part" in GTA 6's creation, even though his studios are "embracing" it more widely

Here I am again, sitting at my desk, listening to Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick spout some financial buzzwords in an investor call, just in case there are any revelations about GTA 6. It’s become a quarterly tradition for me now. Anyway, there’s no need for panic this time around, gamers – the big takeaway from Take-Two’s new earnings report is that the GTA 6 release date of November 19 remains unchanged. Huzzah! However, there are a few more interesting tidbits to come from Zelnick today. He has commented for the first time on marketing for GTA 6, addressed rumors about delaying physical editions of the game, and got very starry eyed about generative AI following all the recent Google Genie mania. However, he’s assured that gen-AI has played “zero part” in the development of Rockstar’s upcoming behemoth.

If there was ever a game that didn’t need marketing, it’s probably GTA 6. Two trailers, two delay announcements, and a website full of screenshots and character profiles has already been enough to get millions of gamers excited. I’m already struggling to see a world where it doesn’t break most of the sales records GTA 5 holds, if not all of them. However, there will still be a proper push in the build-up to launch, and Zelnick has confirmed that it will begin “this summer.” That gives me more confidence than ever that the November release date will actually be hit.

“Are we just going to sit back and relax as we head into the release of GTA 6? I think the opposite is true,” he tells an investor asking whether Take-Two and Rockstar even need to market the open-world game, given the buzz around it.

“We are very fortunate – the consumer anticipation for GTA 6 is indeed huge,” Zelnick adds. “And one does have to be judicious in the way one markets such an extraordinary property. But rest assured, I think you’ll be pretty astonished by the creativity that Rockstar’s marketing team brings to consumers in the coming months.”

Away from marketing, and in an interview with Variety, Zelnick has done some myth-busting. Last week, it was claimed that there were plans to stagger the release of physical versions of GTA 6 to protect against leaks. There have been several high-profile instances in recent years of boxed copies of games being stolen from retailers or illegitimately sold ahead of their official launch date, which often leads to some smug dude uploading some grainy, cell phone camera footage of them playing it before anyone else. Not cool. However, Zelnick has abruptly rubbished those rumors, saying: “That’s not the plan.”

Zelnick has also once again discussed AI, but this time it’s off the back of Google’s controversial Project Genie tech that allows users to create explorable worlds and characters with some simple prompts. The perceived power of Genie saw pretty much every major game publisher’s stock take a dive, Take-Two’s included. While he’s previously been cautiously optimistic about generative AI, but fairly firm when it comes to its limited creative abilities, he sounds far more enthusiastic in today’s earnings call than he has previously.

“We’re now actively embracing generative AI, we have hundreds of pilots and implementations across our company, including with our studios,” Zelnick says in response to a question from an investor. “We are seeing opportunities to drive efficiencies, reduce costs, and create the opportunity to do what digital technology has always allowed, which is: mundane tasks become easier and less relevant, which frees up our creators to do the more interesting tasks of making superb entertainment.”

However, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, he assures this doesn’t mean gen-AI has wormed its way into GTA 6.

“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,” he asserts. “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.”

Should that assurance turn out to be untrue, and players do find evidence of generative AI use in GTA 6, I can imagine there’d be an almighty uproar. I’m crossing my fingers that doesn’t happen. However, the strong stance on these physical edition rumors, and the confident statements about marketing, have certainly helped delete some of the remaining doubts I had about GTA 6 actually arriving this year.