Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick explained why Rockstar bought FiveM: joining the community was more appealing than fighting the way its players wanted to play.
In a Business Insider profile published May 5, 2026, the Take-Two Interactive CEO described the FiveM acquisition in terms that put its community at the center of the decision:
The way we looked at it is, wow, there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who like to engage with GTA in this way. How about if instead of trying to beat them, we join them?
For anyone tracking the escalating series of acquisitions, marketplace launches, and competitor shutdowns that have reshaped the Grand Theft Auto modding landscape over the past three years, the quote explains why Rockstar wanted a stake in that community.
Instead of treating its players as a problem to solve, the company bought the team behind the platform they were using.
Take-Two's Modding Strategy Timeline
Date | Event | Take-Two's Action | What It Meant |
|---|---|---|---|
2015 | FiveM launches as unauthorized multiplayer mod | Cease and desist; called FiveM "piracy-enabling" | Hostile: mods are a threat |
2017 | Take-Two sends C&D to OpenIV (single-player mod tool) | Community backlash forces reversal within days | Forced tolerance: mods are politically dangerous to fight |
2019-2022 | FiveM grows to millions of users; Rockstar does nothing | Passive observation | Evaluation: mods are generating massive engagement |
2023 | Rockstar acquires Cfx.re (FiveM/RedM developers) for an undisclosed sum | Acquisition | Absorption: mods are now a corporate asset |
January 2026 | Cfx Marketplace launches with premium creator assets | Official paid mod storefront | Monetization: mods are now a revenue stream |
February 2026 | alt:V announces a phased shutdown following contact from Take-Two | Shutdown announcement for a competing platform | Consolidation: server owners face a move away from alt:V |
March 2026 | FiveM networking work targets larger servers | Technical scaling of owned platform | Infrastructure investment: platform is being scaled for larger audiences |
May 2026 | Zelnick tells BI: "Instead of trying to beat them, we join them" | Public confirmation of strategy | The CEO just said the quiet part out loud |
How Rockstar moved from confronting FiveM to owning its developer and supporting a creator marketplace.
Zelnick did not say "we decided to tolerate them." He did not say "we found a way to control them." He said "we join them," which suggests that Take-Two is now a willing participant in the modding community. It also isn't entirely accurate since they technically now own FiveM.
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Since the acquisition, Take-Two has turned a community-built platform into a corporate property, launching a marketplace for creator assets. The alt:V shutdown announcement followed in February, narrowing the alternatives available to server owners.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing. The Cfx Marketplace offers modders something they never had. It gives creators an official storefront inside the FiveM and RedM ecosystem, rather than leaving them to find buyers through Discord or separate websites. Buyers get a clearer place to discover assets, although compatibility and support still depend on the product and its creator. Server operators who spent thousands building custom GTA V roleplay experiences now have a platform backed by Rockstar, while still running their own community servers.
The trade-off is control. Everything on the Cfx Marketplace operates under Take-Two's terms of service.
That makes the existing FiveM business a useful model to consider for GTA 6.
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Grand Theft Auto 6 launches on consoles only on November 19. The PC version, where modding actually happens, is months away at minimum. By the time GTA 6 reaches PC, Rockstar's Creator Platform Team could draw on years of experience supporting FiveM and RedM. That is a strong foundation for community creation in the next game, even though its tools and launch timing have not been announced.
Zelnick's quote reframes every modding decision Rockstar has made since 2023. The acquisition brought Rockstar into an established Grand Theft Auto V community. The experience gained there could also serve its next game. The marketplace, the competitor shutdowns, the networking work, and the Creator Platform hiring make that prospect more compelling. They show investment in player creation, rather than confirmation of how GTA 6 will implement it.
Zelnick saw "hundreds of thousands of people" engaging with Rockstar Games' projects through mods and decided the smart move was to build the infrastructure that captures their creativity and their revenue simultaneously.
History says the community version is usually more creative. Zelnick is betting the corporate version is more sustainable. Grand Theft Auto fans are the happiest if they get a little bit of both.