Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has revealed the part of his job that most people don’t realize puts him in his place.
Strauss was recently interviewed by Bloomberg. In it, Jason Schreier explained that analysts projected that GTA 6 would sell 25 million units at launch.
But if that sounds like it’s just glazing Rockstar and Strauss, it works the other way too. If GTA 6 sold below that number, even if it sold a staggering 10 million units, that would be disastrous for Rockstar and Take-Two.
Strauss explained how he views this tension:
At a lower level, that’s true of Take-Two’s entire business plan on the console side. Development costs have gone up and up.
And we really do aim to deliver the highest quality entertainment on Earth. And that is costly.
And AI influence notwithstanding, we haven’t seen those costs decline yet. Maybe we will. Maybe we won’t.
Strauss ultimately describes it as a high-stakes game, for big boys like himself. And while he’s opened a window to his vulnerability, his track record suggests that you still would not want to bet vs. Strauss and Rockstar.
