PC players aren't Grand Theft Auto 6's 'core' audience, Take-Two CEO says, and that's why we have to wait for it
Grand Theft Auto 6 will be out on November 19, unless it gets delayed again (never say never), but only on console. There's no doubt that GTA 6 will come to PC eventually, but officially, it still hasn't been announced for our platform and therefore does not exist. Why? In an interview with Bloomberg, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said the company's priority is "serving the core," and that, apparently, is console.
It's a bit of a strange thing, because leading up to that explanation, Zelnick said that when he started with GTA 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive way back in 2007, PC releases accounted for a tiny portion of the company's overall sales: In the case of the NBA 2K series, for instance, it might make up 5% of total sales. But that's not the case anymore: "Now with regard to a big title, PC can be 45, 50% of the sales," Zelnick said.
So that's half your total sales, and there's no game bigger than GTA 6—so, why is PC (half your total sales!) excluded from the initial launch?
"Rockstar always starts on console because I think with regard to a release like that you're judged by serving the core," Zelnick said. "Like really serving the core consumer. If your core consumer isn't there, if they're not served first and best, you kind of don't hit your other consumers."
I just don't understand that. Serving PC alongside your supposed "core consumer" doesn't exclude or diminish them: They absolutely are there, and the idea that they need to be "served first" or there'll be hell to pay conjures up thoughts of people who get angry because Sony exclusives sometimes come to other platforms: It's just console war silliness dressed up in an expensive suit. And if PC really does represent half your total sales (!), how is that not your core to start with?
There is another possible explanation for Rockstar's console-first-PC-later strategy: As PC Gamer's Ted Litchfield pointed out back in 2024, "Rockstar banks on a second revenue bump from its games' PC releases, a little afterburner of profit that includes no shortage of PC-favoring players who buy the game twice." Ted knows the score, folks.
This is nothing new for us PC gamers: Historically, Rockstar games have taken anywhere from seven months to 14.5 years (yes, years) to make the move from consoles to PC, so it's not like this is some unprecedented slap in the face. It is kind of annoying, though.
Take-Two's next quarterly financial results will be announced on May 21. We'll be listening in, and we'll let you know if anything interesting happens.
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