Strauss Zelnick Teases GTA 7 Might Release Sooner Than Expected

Players around the world are counting down the days until the release of GTA 6, which will be available to all PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S owners already next week, with the pre-loading now available in several countries. Meanwhile, the CEO of Take-Two, Rockstar Games' parent company, has made an intriguing statement about the franchise future.

A few hours ago, Take-Two Interactive released its latest financial report, and the company’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, spoke to IGN. In the interview, he teased that the next, seventh installment of GTA might be released sooner than expected. During the conversation, they touched on a Bloomberg report that mentioned that Rockstar executives are considering shortening the development timeline for future projects—largely thanks to the technology used in GTA 6, which will make creating new games easier. You can check out Zelnick’s comments on the matter below:

“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.”

This is a very promising statement. Given that GTA 6 is coming out 13 years after the release of the fifth installment, it’s possible the new game in the series might arrive around 2036—but this remains purely speculative. The aforementioned Bloomberg report does confirm that Rockstar's next game won’t take as long to develop as GTA 6 did; however, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the project will be GTA 7.

A recent rumor also suggested that Rockstar plans to release L.A. Noire in 2030, and we shouldn’t overlook the possibility of Red Dead Redemption 3, especially given the franchise’s popularity, largely thanks to the second installment. You can also check out which title might be next from Rockstar Games after GTA 6.

Strauss Zelnick also made a couple of statements about GTA 6. He confirmed that the game has "gone gold," meaning Rockstar has completed its development. Additionally, according to the Take-Two CEO, the game's pre-orders are significantly exceeding the company's expectations, although he did not reveal exact figures.

Grand Theft Auto VI launches on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.