LogIn"Generally, when we announce a date certain, we were able to hit that day."
Rockstar
Despite the Take-Two CEO's repeated assurances that GTA 6 development was on track for a fall 2025 release, the game was ultimately delayed, as some had anticipated. Meanwhile, not everyone is confident that the most anticipated game will drop on the release date, and discussions of more delays can also be heard regularly.
In a recent interview with IGN, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick explained the reasons for the delay and suggested that, based on a history of adhering to announced release dates, GTA 6 is unlikely to experience another delay.
"As we get closer to completion of a title that's seeking perfection, the needs or lack thereof, for continued polish become clear. In this case there was an opportunity with a small amount of incremental time, we thought, to make sure Rockstar Games achieves its creative vision with no limitations. And I supported of course that approach."
It seems there is more refining work needed to polish the game to perfection as the original release window drew closer. Instead of pushing staff into the condition of "brutal crunch," they decided to extend the timeline to achieve this goal. "And while, of course, delays pain me. How could they not? The most important thing to do is to support your teams in their search for perfection," Zelnick said.
One of the references behind theories of more delays is the Red Dead Redemption 2, whose release suffered from two delays from fall 2017 to spring 2018 before it was finally released in October 2018. But Zelnick saw this from a different perspective. "I think historically when we set a specific date, generally speaking, we've been very good about reaching it."
In a discussion with CNBC regarding the delay, Zelnick said that "it's less than six months," and it could mean that the original release target was end of November to early December of 2025. He then further reassured the community by saying that "generally, when we announce a date certain, we were able to hit that day."
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