Take-Two Interactive chief executive Strauss Zelnick has indicated that GTA 7 development will not stretch across another 13 years, telling IGN that the pace of new Grand Theft Auto content will change sharply over the coming decade. The comments, reported on November 9 by Insider Gaming and Shane the Gamer, came in an interview tied to Take-Two’s second-quarter fiscal 2027 earnings, with Grand Theft Auto 6 due out on November 19.
That release date lands more than 13 years after GTA 5 launched in September 2013, a gap Insider Gaming described as having “at times, felt never-ending for excited fans.” Zelnick did not name GTA 7 directly in his answer, and he did not offer a release window.
Zelnick’s answer on GTA 7 development
IGN asked Zelnick whether the next Grand Theft Auto would take as long as GTA 6 did. According to Insider Gaming, he replied:
“We do think that the nature and velocity of the content we’ll see from our iconic franchises, including GTA, will look dramatically different over the next decade. And that’s really being driven by our industry leading commitment to releasing the highest quality entertainment, to reaching our players in new ways and in new places and trying to maintain engagement with our consumers post-launch.”
Shane the Gamer broke that down into three stated reasons for the change: Take-Two’s commitment to releasing the highest-quality entertainment, reaching players in new ways and new places, and keeping them engaged after launch.
Insider Gaming’s Ethan Krieger noted that Take-Two and Zelnick oversee many other video game franchises, which makes the specific mention of GTA notable. “it is extremely interesting that he distinctly states ‘including GTA’ in this response to IGN,” the outlet wrote.
What Rockstar’s development heads told Bloomberg
IGN’s question followed a Bloomberg feature on Rockstar Games. The two outlets describe that reporting slightly differently. Insider Gaming says Bloomberg quoted “some of Rockstar’s senior staff” who claimed that development of future GTA titles shouldn’t take as long moving forward. Shane the Gamer reports the more specific version: Rockstar’s heads of development said the studio’s next game won’t take another eight years to make.
According to Shane the Gamer, Rockstar’s development heads said the engine, tools and team built for GTA 6 will let the studio move faster on whatever comes next. The outlet argued that this explanation is more concrete than the publisher’s, writing that “For anyone waiting on GTA 7, Rockstar’s answer carries more weight than Zelnick’s,” because a finished engine and a much larger studio are production facts, while Zelnick spoke about Take-Two’s whole portfolio and committed to nothing specific.
A studio nearly twice its 2018 size
Shane the Gamer put numbers to the expansion behind that claim. Rockstar’s headcount has grown from 2,441 staff when Red Dead Redemption 2 launched in October 2018 to 4,711 people across 12 offices. That is an increase of 2,270 staff, nearly doubling the size of the studio.
The outlet also cautioned that the two time frames being discussed measure different things. Bloomberg’s eight-year figure and the 13-year gap between GTA 5 and GTA 6 are not the same yardstick: the longer number is the gap between GTA releases, and Rockstar shipped Red Dead Redemption 2 during that period. More coverage of the publisher and its studios is collected on our news page.
Why “velocity of content” is not a release date
Shane the Gamer pointed out that naming GTA specifically matters because IGN’s question was about how long the next game would take — but that “velocity of content” does not say when a sequel ships. The outlet noted that the last of Zelnick’s three reasons, keeping players engaged after launch, could just as easily mean more live updates as faster sequels.
It cited GTA Online as evidence that Take-Two already follows that approach: the online mode is still receiving substantial updates more than 13 years after it launched in October 2013.
Insider Gaming reached a similar conclusion about the limits of the remark, writing that Zelnick claiming the “nature and velocity” of future projects will change over “the next decade” is “not a guarantee that Grand Theft Auto 7 gets turned around abnormally quickly in the future someday.” Still, the outlet said it was encouraging to hear from both Rockstar senior staff and Zelnick that the goal is to work more quickly, thanks to the groundwork laid by GTA 6‘s development.
No announced next project from Rockstar
Rockstar has not announced its next project, so no one has yet said whether the faster turnaround its development heads described applies to GTA 7 or to a different game, Shane the Gamer reported. That leaves the question of GTA 7 development open on both counts — timing and title.
Separately, Insider Gaming reported that players hoping to buy Grand Theft Auto 6 on disc will have to wait to hear about that from Rockstar themselves, according to Take-Two’s CEO. Our reviews section covers new releases as they arrive.
As of Insider Gaming’s November 9 report, the game was “a mere ten days away,” set to become the first mainline entry in the series in more than 13 years. GTA 6 returns the series to Vice City.
