Why Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick Won't Play Grand Theft Auto 6

Grand Theft Auto 6 is perhaps the most anticipated game of all time, to the point where even years of radio silence do little to dim the lights on its speeding hype train. In fact, almost anyone with a modern gaming console or PC will probably play GTA 6 when it eventually starts. Everyone except, it seems, Strauss Zelnick himself.

Zelnick is an astute businessman whose career highlights include chairing CBS and founding the private equity firm ZMC, but most gamers know him as CEO of Take-Two Interactive, a position he's held since 2011. During that time, he oversaw the production and rollout of Grand Theft Auto 5, Max Payne 3, and Red Dead Redemption 2along with notable non-Rockstar games such as BioShock Infinite. In short, the man is no stranger to big game success, and regardless of one's personal opinion of him, it's clear that he brings important business experience to the table, which will hopefully facilitate a smooth Grand Theft Auto 6 launch. If GTA 6 lands with a splash or a thud, but it doesn't seem like Mr. Zelnick himself will play it, according to comments he's made in the past.

Why Strauss Zelnick Won't Play Grand Theft Auto 6, According to Strauss Zelnick

Zelnick spoke to CNBC in May 2025, mostly about Grand Theft Auto 6 behing is pushed into late 2026 – something that could get encores, if it goes ahead GTA 6 delay speculation turns out to be correct. In the interview, Zelnick expressed great confidence in GTA 6s prospects despite the highly publicized delay, saying that “Rockstar Games is trying to create the best anyone has ever seen in entertainment, not just interactive entertainment.” Such a lofty statement would likely have been dismissed as exaggeration in any other case, but with Rockstar and GTA 6that sounds pretty accurate.

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However, Rockstar's “best thing anyone has ever seen” endeavor doesn't seem to have moved Strauss Zelnick too much on a personal level, as he later told CNBC that he hasn't actually played any of GTA 6despite probably having access to an ongoing build like the Take-Two boss. He clarified that he is “not a gamer” or the “main consumer” of Take-Two Interactive. Of course, this suggests that Zelnick is not approaching his position with the mindset of a player, but rather a CEO with entertainment experience. He went on to compare his current role to his previous ones through this lens:

“I think it's probably a mistake to be the chief consumer in the entertainment business as a CEO. I wasn't the chief consumer in the movie business or the TV business or the music business, although I could certainly read a script and I definitely love music… but that's not my role.”

Strauss Zelnick is not a player

Picking CEOs is a favorite pastime of many gamers, understandably so: corporate greed has caused great harm to the gaming medium and the industry at large, resulting in unfair studio closures, predatory practices, monetization, cutbacks, and workplace malfeasance of all kinds. As such, I imagine many video game fans will scoff at Zelnick's comments above, seeing them as yet more evidence of just how “out of touch” this particular businessman is.

I can't say I blame anyone for jumping to this conclusion in the first place. After all, how can you judge the quality of a game if you don't enjoy video games yourself? I won't pretend to speak as an authority on this matter, but I also think you can see Zelnick's comments from a different, more optimistic angle.

Why It's Good Strauss Zelnick Doesn't See Grand Theft Auto 6 as a 'Consumer-in-Chief'

In most cases, and especially when it comes to hugely expensive properties such as Grand Theft Autofor now, we just have to accept that video game production is partially controlled by the “money men”, so to speak. There are creatives—directors, animators, writers, et cetera—and then there are the Strauss Zelnicks of the world, the ones who keep production and financing running smoothly. Having a personal relationship with gaming might provide some kind of advantage to these money men, but it might also make them more likely to interfere in the actual development of a given project. Since someone like Strauss Zelnick has nothing to offer Rockstar on the creative side, it's good that he understands his role in this dynamic.

This is not meant to be disparaging of Zelnick, who I think agrees with me. In the same CNBC interview, Zelnick said his job is “to attract, retain and motivate the best talent in the business, and then [get] out of the way.” Rockstar Games has proven time and time again that they know how to make a good product, so “getting out of the way” is probably the best thing someone in Zelnick's position can do. Zelnick seems to see himself as the grease, rather than one of the gears, which is a good philosophy for a CEO to have, in my opinion.