GTA6 Won't Be A Day-One Release on Subscription Services, According to Take-Two Boss

GTA6 will reportedly not be a day-one subscription service release.

By Hannah Adkins

Grand Theft Auto 6 has been narrowed to a fall of 2025 release date and consistently reaffirmed for that window, including in Take-Two Interactive's latest conference call that discussed the company's results for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2025 where the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Strauss Zelnick, noted that "momentum continues to build ahead of the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI in Fall 2025." While GTA fans are patiently waiting for a new trailer for the game that may be due in November or December of this year based on the pattern set by developers Rockstar Games' previous releases, any bit of information regarding the upcoming game is of note. 

The newest confirmation for GTA6's release also comes from additional comments by Zelnick, who has revealed that the game is not planned for day one availability on subscription services like Xbox Game Pass because, as he states, "our decisions are rational." The latest comments from Zelnick were made in an interview with EuroGamer sister site GamesIndustry.biz, where the Take-Two boss said he understood "offering a frontline title with a premium price in a subscription service, day and date, will push consumers to that subscription service for at least a period of time, it won't affect [Take-Two's] decisions [not to offer AAA games on subscription services on day one]."

With over a dozen game releases planned in the future across a variety of platforms, Zelnick notes that it's Take-Two Interactive's "job to outperform the industry, and the one way to do that is to generate big hits, and I think we have all the necessary elements to deliver that."

"There are modest tailwinds which are positive. It is our job to outperform the industry, and the only way to do that is to generate big hits, and I think we have all the necessary elements to deliver that," he concludes. 

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Zelnick also addresses concerns that players still using last-generation consoles will not be able to play GTA6, and therefore the game will not see the release numbers it hopes for. "No, it's not a challenge," he states. "You're right, there are certain players that are really interested in legacy titles. We have a superb catalogue in this company, it's reliable and generates a lot of net bookings every year. So we are thrilled that there are players interested in legacy titles and even legacy systems. That said, the new hit titles do generate an enormous amount of net bookings in the industry. Not just ours, but everyone else's. It really is a Top Ten title business, at the end of the day."

The Take-Two boss feels that while players may have been slower to upgrade to the current generation, it's going to happen eventually. "Within a couple of years of the launch of new hardware, usually usage of the prior generation hardware does tail off meaningfully. But I think that will be the case here as well, it's just a matter of time."

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