Contrary to popular belief, GTA 6 will launch on Nov. 19, 2026, with marketing set to begin in the summer. What’s more, the company expects “record levels of Net Bookings in Fiscal 2027,” leading to “enhanced profitability,” according to its latest earnings report.
However, not everything has been in Take Two’s favour recently, with the company’s stocks plummeting roughly 10 percent—lowest in six months, right after Google’s Project Genie’s AI-generated game worlds started popping up all over social media.
Since then, Take Two’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, has spoken about using AI, specifically generative AI usage in game development.
While discussing GTA 6 with gamesindustry.biz, Zelnick revealed that “Generative AI has zero part in what Rockstar Games is building,” which he elaborated upon by adding that all their worlds are handcrafted, including every building, street, and neighbourhood in GTA 6.
However, in the same interview, Zelnick also enthusiastically explained in great detail how the company is “embracing AI” and implementing it within its studios to improve efficiency.
“Tools don’t replace creativity, and tools are not projects,” says Take Two CEO on gen AI
“I’ve been enthusiastic since the very beginning,” says Zelnick in the context of AI. He adds, “This company’s products have always been built with machine learning and artificial intelligence. We’ve actually always been a leader in the space, and right now we have hundreds of pilots and implementations across our company, including within our studios. And we’re already seeing instances where generative AI tools are driving costs and time efficiencies.”
While this process has led to increased efficiency, Zelnick reassured that AI is not being used for creating game assets, further clarifying that tools are not projects that can replace creativity. He also explained how tools themselves can’t create great entertainment properties, while referencing GTA 6’s handcrafted world as an example of what ultimately creates good entertainment.
It’s worth mentioning that Zelnick has had a pretty clear stance on AI in games from the get-go. Earlier last year, in an interview with CNBC, he discussed how AI can’t create a GTA clone even without IP restrictions, as it’s a “backwards looking” tool that utilizes old information for computation.
Hence, despite Google’s Project Genie producing GTA-like worlds in an instant, Zelnick doesn’t look at it as a threat. If anything, it excites him and his team. In an interview with IGN ahead of Take Two’s latest earnings call, Zelnick shared how he believes “tools are what drive additional innovation in what [Take Two] we do, drive efficiency, and drive creativity, and that’s our three-part strategy.”
It’s no surprise that many AAA and indie studios have started using AI tools to speed up certain aspects of game development, with Divinity developer Larian being quite vocal about it, and Take Two is, evidently, no exception to it.
While GTA 6 remains completely free of generative AI, the same can’t be said about the company’s future titles, even if it’s not being used for creative purposes, and that in itself can be concerning for the fans of gaming’s crown jewel of a studio.
