Amidst all the Grand Theft Auto noise, there’s always that one quote that cuts through all the corporate fluff and actually tells you what’s going on. It came straight from the top of Take-Two Interactive.
During a recent interview, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick described expectations for Grand Theft Auto VI as “terrifying," which alone is enough to grab attention, but buried underneath that statement is something more telling, especially if you plan on playing GTA 6 on PC.
According to him, you aren't the priority. At least, not right now.
In an interview with Bloomberg via Jason Schreier ,as part of the Interactive Innovation Conference in Las Vegas last week, Strauss Zelnick revealed the massive and "terrifying" expectations for the next GTA. It suggests pressure at a level even Rockstar isn’t entirely comfortable with, especially considering how it's expected to outperform its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V, which is the second-best-selling video game of all time and continues to generate revenue more than a decade later.
In the same interview, Zelnick also reinforced something we’ve seen time and time again. Rockstar builds these games primarily for consoles first. Everything else comes later.
Why? Rockstar develops GTA VI with PlayStation and Xbox in mind first because that’s where the majority of players are at launch, and it's faster that way. Consoles are standardized. Every PlayStation PS5 is the same. Every Xbox Series X behaves the same way.
PC is different. There are thousands of possible hardware combinations. Different GPUs, CPUs, drivers, and settings. Optimizing a game like GTA VI for that environment takes more time.
So instead of delaying the entire game, Rockstar releases it on consoles first, then circles back to PC later.
How Rockstar has handled recent major releases
| Game | Console Release | PC Release | Delay |
|---|---|---|---|
Grand Theft Auto V | 2013 | 2015 | ~18 months |
Red Dead Redemption 2 | 2018 | 2019 | ~12 months |
Grand Theft Auto VI | 2026 (expected) | TBA | Likely similar |
Nothing about GTA VI suggests a different approach.
If anything, the "terrifying" stakes probably make Rockstar even less willing to complicate development with a simultaneous PC launch.
While it's easy to frame this as Rockstar ignoring PC players, that's not the case. PC has never been Rockstar’s launch platform. It’s their second wave. The version that benefits from extra polish, additional features, and fewer compromises. In some cases, the PC version ends up being the best version.
So the delay isn’t necessarily neglect. It’s prioritization.
Still, simultaneous releases across console and PC are no longer rare. They’re expected. Even technically demanding games are launching on both platforms at the same time. Somehow, Take-Two's argument on leaning on their "core audience" feels a bit outdated.
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Rockstar isn’t wrong, but they’re also not entirely keeping up with where the industry is heading.
At the same time, there's a financial play here. Staggered releases aren’t just about development challenges. They’re also about revenue cycles. By launching GTA VI on consoles first, Take-Two gets a massive initial sales wave. Then, months or even a year later, they get another surge when the PC version drops.
It’s the same game. Sold twice. Marketed twice. Talked about twice.
From a business standpoint, it’s efficient.
From a player standpoint, it can feel like you’re being asked to wait just so the company can double-dip, and it is.
Rockstar has proven it can do it. In fact, GTA V is one of the most re-released games of all time, with multiple editions for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X, with a PC port launched twice.
Going back to Zelnick’s comment, calling expectations “terrifying” isn’t just about hype. It’s about risk as well. If GTA VI launches with technical issues, missing features, or performance problems, the backlash will be immediate and massive. Rockstar knows this. That’s why they’re likely keeping the launch as controlled as possible, and PC, by its nature, introduces more variables than any other platform.
Ultimately, if you're a console player, this changes nothing. If you're on PC, the message is loud and clear. You have no choice but to wait. How long? That's the real question.
Based on Rockstar’s history, you’re probably looking at anywhere between 12 and 18 months after the initial console release.
It's definitely been a long, long road to play GTA 6 on PC, but what's a couple months more, right?