Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick just threw cold water on speculation that Grand Theft Auto Online might get shut down after Grand Theft Auto 6 launches this November. During Tuesday's quarterly earnings call, he made it pretty clear that the 2013 multiplayer game will stick around as long as people keep playing it.

When asked directly about GTA Online's fate in a post-GTA 6 world during the call, Zelnick said he has "every reason to believe" Rockstar Games will keep supporting it.

His reasoning is that the community is still active, and when Rockstar drops new content those players still show up. Case in point: last quarter saw a 27% jump in GTA Online spending after December's Safehouse in the Hills update let players buy ridiculously expensive mansions. This isn't the first time Zelnick has hinted at this approach to the game's lifetime, either.

Last year, he pointed to NBA 2K Online in Asia as an example of how Take-Two handles these situations. They launched NBA 2K Online 2 in 2017 but never killed off the original from 2012. Both games are still running because people are still playing them. There are concerns among fans about whether Rockstar will split their attention between two live service games or just sunset the older one. Zelnick's comments suggest they're fine running both simultaneously, at least for now.

The math makes sense - GTA Online has been a cash machine for over a decade, with players spending real money on vehicles, weapons, properties, and businesses. As long as those revenue numbers stay healthy, there's no financial incentive to pull the plug. Zelnick basically admitted as much when he said Take-Two supports games when consumers are engaged with them.

What remains unclear is how this actually plays out in practice. Some analysts think GTA Online might eventually become a service that works across both GTA V and GTA 6, while others expect a year or two of overlap before the older version shifts into maintenance mode or becomes a modding playground. Rockstar hasn't spelled out its exact plans, and Zelnick noted the studio keeps a "light touch" on sharing creative details.

For now, GTA Online players can probably relax. Barring a massive exodus when GTA 6 drops, it looks like their game isn't going anywhere.