GTA 6: 9 key takeaways from Take-Two earnings call — including release date, if it's coming to PC, possible price and more

Calming fan fears of further delays to the highly anticipated title, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive - Rockstar Games’ parent company - Strauss Zelnick has reiterated the planned release date for GTA 6.

Calling the game “arguably the most anticipated entertainment property of all time”, Zelnick shared that they are expecting a “breakout” year for the business, which will be led by the Scotland-born franchise.

He added: “We’re excited that Rockstar Games will start their marketing campaign this summer.”

READ MORE: 'It's just about fun': Original Grand Theft Auto programmer shares inside look at how the first game was made

On top of predictions surrounding the expected performance of the upcoming entry, the series “continues to exceed expectations significantly” as well “demonstrate incredible momentum” ahead of GTA 6’s launch which Zelnick credits to “its passionate community of players”.

Grand Theft Auto V, which first came out in 2013, has now sold almost 230 million units across three console generations. Each copy of the game includes free access to GTA Online, which is one of several platforms - such as Red Dead Redemption Online - Zelnick said was “vastly more resilient than anyone expected”.

While there were many questions asked about the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto VI during the meeting, there was very little - if any - new information.

When answering questions Zelnick and his fellow executives each danced around more pointed remarks, largely refusing to reveal details beyond those which are already publicly available, such as:

• GTA 6 will launch on November 19
• Rockstar’s marketing for GTA 6 will kick into gear this summer
• Take-Two are expecting GTA 6 to help drive sales and expected profits for the company

With that being said, there were a few statements made throughout the call which could be interesting to fans.

1. Grand Theft Auto VI will launch on November 19 as planned

Unlike last year when Take-Two’s earnings call heralded bad news for fans, the GTA 6 release date remains Thursday, November 19 2026.

2. GTA 6 Price: Take-Two prioritise delivering ‘more entertainment value than they charge’

In response to one question related to pricing, Zelnick replied that “part of loving something is feeling good about what you pay for”.

He explained: “We absolutely look at pricing in the context of the property itself, and so what we want to do in every situation, whether that's console, mobile, PC, frontline, or catalogue, is deliver to the consumer vastly more entertainment value than what we charge.

“We want the consumer to have a great experience, we think the consumer experience is the intersection of what you get and what you pay for it.

“And probably a great example of that is Mafia: The Old Country, which is a terrific title, but it's not, you know, it's not a 100 hour experience, not a 50 hour experience. And so we priced the title at $50 and consumers were thrilled, and we had a massive hit on our hands.

“I suspect we could have priced at a higher level. We wanted to make sure that consumers loved it, and part of loving something is feeling good about what you pay for.”

Answering another question regarding the price of GTA 6, Zelnick said: “I think what I was trying to get at was on real terms, video games have become a better and better deal for consumers over a period of time, and that that's a good thing..”

He continued: “In other words, if you can give people something really great and you can offer it on really favourable economic terms, that's a win-win.”

Though, Zelnick did end up clarifying that he didn’t intend to “guide” any thoughts on the “upcoming unannounced price on any release”...

3. Take-Two predict around $8 billion in revenue - largely because of GTA

According to Take-Two’s chief financial officer Lainie Goldstein, the company is forecasting their GAAP net revenue to “range from $7.9 to $8.1 billion”.

This is in part credited to the upcoming release of GTA 6, as well as other titles from across their studios such as NBA 2K, ToonBlast, Red Dead Redemption and others such as mobile games.

4. Expect pre-orders to begin alongside GTA 6 marketing

While this wasn’t necessarily mentioned in the call, based on a recent interview with Bloomberg, Zelnick hinted that pre-orders and pricing for GTA 6 are likely to be revealed as Rockstar begin their marketing campaign for the title.

It’s after rumours began circulating online about pre-orders possibly opening on May 18.

5. Take-Two CEO ‘extraordinarily excited’ about Grand Theft Auto

While there was an undertone of not counting chickens before they’re hatched, Zelnick shared that the team at Take-Two is “incredibly enthusiastic about the upcoming release” and that they “hope for the best result”.

Stating that development and marketing is in the hands of Rockstar Games, who are “trying to make the best entertainment property they possibly can”, overall making sure consumers around the world are happy is the mission.

He said: “That's what we aim to do, and we do feel really, really good about it.”

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6. Expect heavy marketing for GTA 6 from Rockstar

Although Zelnick mentioned that the new Grand Theft Auto game is among the most anticipated of all time, this doesn’t mean that there is no need for marketing.

In fact, fans should expect to see quite a lot of promotion for GTA 6.

“Do we see in any release, no matter how highly anticipated it is, both the need to market the title and the opportunity in marketing the title? We do.”

Comparing it to the marketing of huge blockbusters such as Mission Impossible, Zelnick said that companies will always spend money to make sure people know when the product is out and worth purchasing.

“And I think that's the story of the entertainment business. I don't think there's any situation where one can expect to have a massive hit and not engage heavily in the marketing.”

He added that “across the board” the company has “spectacular marketing”, which could prove promising - or controversial - with Rockstar’s reputation.

7. Still no GTA 6 PC release date confirmed

As expected, GTA 6 will not launch on PC immediately after launch. This is fairly standard for titles in the series, with GTA 5 only arriving on PC two years after the game was first released.

Commenting, Zelnick said: “The PC market's a great market, and it's growing for console type titles, and it's market we serve avidly and virtually all of our hit titles end up on all platforms over time.

“That said, Rockstar Games has announced GTA 6 for console only so far, and we're excited about our November 19 release.”

8. Goal is to ‘meet players where they are’ - but still no word on GTA 6 Online

There was acknowledgement about the possibility of GTA 6 Online coming, but no official reveal. Details will likely begin to emerge as marketing begins.

Zelnick said that their mission is to “make great entertainment properties” and that “everything else could take care of itself”.

He commented: “I think, of course, not having announced any online version for GTA 6, it certainly would be premature to talk about an upcoming business model for something that we haven't talked about. But I think conceptually, what we pride ourselves on here is being thoughtful and open-minded, and trying to meet consumers where they are, and trying to optimise the entertainment or experience for those consumers.”

He continued: “And that's what we've been talking about a lot on this call, you know, when it really comes down to what does this company think about 24/7? What do I think about?

“I think about making sure that this is an enterprise that, more so than any other entertainment enterprise on earth, focuses on making hit properties that excite and engage consumers. That's what we all think about right now.”

Zelnick also promised that Take-Two was going to continue delivering hits “at a higher and higher level”.

9. No further news on UGC for GTA 6 either

On that note, while there was no word on user-generated content for GTA 6, it doesn’t seem as though it is outside the realm of possibility.

Replying to a comment about GTA Online’s Mission Creator - which launched in April - Zelnick said: “Look, we're trying to meet players where they are, and to the extent that people wanted to have a hand in creation or numerous opportunities for them to do so, so you know, I just think it's incredibly exciting, and and our company embraces these advances.

“So you know we're not precious about what we do here, we're open-minded. An example, another example of that, is the FiveM business, you know, we're where this started as sort of a business that was outside of our four walls, and you know, now it's a business that's inside our four walls, and we're thrilled that it is.”