The next installment in Grand Theft Auto — presumably Grand Theft Auto VI — may release sooner than you think. Recently, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive — the parent company of Rockstar Games — revealed that he expects smaller gaps between the publisher’s big releases going forward. According to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, games like GTA Online and Red Dead Online mean it can engage its customers on an ongoing basis and extend the life of its games. This, has lead to “less pressure” on getting new installments to the market, which is why there’s been some big gaps between its big releases this generation. However, to reduce this gap, Take-Two plans to dump more resources into their development teams and expand their size.
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Live-service games also means that “it’s possible that [a] game may be a bit shorter” at launch than in the past. In other words, because modern games, or at least modern Take-Two releases, add so much content post-launch, there’s not as much need to pack in as much content up front. This would mean shorter experiences, but quicker development times.
That said, overall the strategy isn’t changing that much. Zelnick still believes in the fewer, bigger, better mentality, but admits eight years between releases in big franchises is probably too long. The CEO still believes series need to be rested frequently, but perhaps they don’t need that much rest.
As you will know, while Grand Theft Auto 6 hasn’t been announced or even confirmed, it’s certainly in some form of development, and thus is automatically’ Take-Two’s most anticipated release. And from the sounds of it, it may be coming sooner than we think. But it also may be a bit shorter than previous installments.
Looking to the more immediate future, Take-Two’s big 2019 releases have yet to come: Borderlands 3 and NBA 2K20. The former returns after a long absence, an absence that may not be as long next time it returns.
Anyway, as always, feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts. Would you like to see Take-Two release games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead more frequently or should it continue its trend of long gaps between releases?
Thanks, GamesIndustry.
