While the videogame industry is currently in an early stage of incorporating AI into many of it’s areas, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick believes it can never compete with the legendary GTA series of games in any way. In a recent interview with CNBC, Zelnick shared his views on whether AI could replicate anything even remotely close to something as groundbreaking and innovative as GTA:
“Could we push a button tomorrow and create an equivalent to the Grand Theft Auto marketing plan? The answer is no. A, you can’t do that yet, and B, I am of the view that you wouldn’t end up with anything very good. You end up with something pretty derivative.”
He also emphasized that AI can’t really innovate, as it’s processes are based on “backward-looking” by design that can only built on things that have already been made, as opposed to creating something entirely new from scratch.
“Anything that involves backward-looking data compute, it’s really good for that and that applies to lots of things,” he stated. “What we do at Take-Two, anything that isn’t attached to that, it’s going to be really, really bad at.”
This is an important distinction about AI which is often overlooked by many as it’s only effective for certain rudimentary parts when it comes to developing games, or pretty much anything. But in terms of creative expression, there’s absolutely no replacement to the live human involvement. So AI won’t likely be involved at anything remotely innovation-related when it comes to most games, let alone something as monumental and influential as the GTA series.
And as of right now, the world is patiently awaiting for GTA 6 which has garnered even more hype behind it than what GTA 5 did when it came out over a decade ago, with both of it’s trailers breaking viewership records twice. This really suggests that upon release, GTA 6 could earn revenue that was previously unimaginable not just for a videogame but for any entertainment property in history.
GTA 6 is currently slated to launch for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on May 26, 2026.
