GTA 6 writer says PC is not ‘core viewers’ (with a straight face)

Do you know you possibly can simply say issues that aren’t true and there’s nothing anybody can do about it? Verify this out: “My canine has six legs.” Bam, have a look at all the results I’m not going through for fibbing to you. In 2026, you are able to do this to an viewers of tens of millions—even in a courtroom or congressional listening to after swearing an oath—and nothing occurs.

On a totally completely different and unrelated word: Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick gave an interview to Bloomberg discussing the corporate’s upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6, through which he claimed that PC isn’t the corporate’s “core client.”

“Rockstar at all times begins on console as a result of I feel with regard to a launch like that, you’re judged by serving the core,” Zelnick advised Bloomberg. “Like actually serving the core client. In case your core client isn’t there, in the event that they’re not served first and finest, you sort of don’t hit your different shoppers… Traditionally, Rockstar’s gone to console first.”

The truth that Take-Two subsidiary Rockstar’s video games debut on console earlier than slowly making their strategy to PC has been some extent of competition for years. For a small growth group, taking time to port a recreation is comprehensible (though today, smaller video games typically begin on PC and later go to console). However Grand Theft Auto is among the greatest media franchises on the planet. GTA 5 bought over 200 million copies, and even 13 years and two console generations after its preliminary launch, it’s nonetheless sitting excessive on gross sales charts. GTA 6 is estimated to value over a billion {dollars} to develop. The thought that Rockstar may very well be in any means restricted by growth sources is laughable.

By no means thoughts that today, creating cross-platform has by no means been simpler. Each the Xbox Collection X/S and PlayStation 5 are based mostly on AMD APU designs that share PC structure, with solely a little bit of proprietary particular sauce in there. Most recreation engines and growth instruments are cross-platform, notably Unreal 5 and Unity, designed for fast deployment throughout PCs, consoles, and even cellular (the Swap and Swap 2 are Arm-based). Hell, the actual fact that Rockstar’s personal video games like GTA 5 and Crimson Lifeless Redemption 2 come to PC with higher graphics and extra choices is proof that it’s doable, and never overly tough compared to the preliminary ground-up growth of those video games.

Zelnick’s personal statements appear to undermine his “core viewers” argument. He stated that when he based the writer in 2007, PC would possibly make 5 % of the gross sales of a recreation like NBA 2K. Now it’s 45 to 50 % of that recreation, even when sports activities titles are inclined to do higher on consoles to benefit from a lounge multiplayer setup. Neither Take-Two nor Rockstar have given a report of how GTA 5 or Crimson Lifeless Redemption 2 have bought with a platform breakdown, however the latter is at present #34 on the Steam weekly gross sales chart, simply forward of the smash hit Baldur’s Gate III (which got here out 10 years later).

So, what’s the “core client” for Grand Theft Auto in 2026? Once more, Take-Two isn’t making it simple to find out. A latest little bit of leaked Rockstar information signifies that the PS5 has over half of bookings—that’s to say, in-game purchases—in GTA On-line, the open-world multiplayer counterpart to GTA 5. The sport nonetheless generates about $9 million per week for Rockstar by way of microtransactions and different revenue, with solely a few quarter million coming from PC gamers.

That actually backs up the concept console is the place the cash is coming from. However it’s not the one information to think about. In line with the identical leaked information, GTA 5 bought over 34 million copies on PC between June 2021 and March 2026, accounting for about 46 % of whole gross sales throughout platforms.

It is a bit muddled by the truth that GTA 5 is such an outdated recreation—even in 2021, most PlayStation and Xbox gamers (now one or two generations forward of the sport’s preliminary launch) would have at the least one copy of GTA 5 in the event that they needed it. However it appears painfully apparent that Rockstar would promote a fully staggering quantity of copies to PC avid gamers if GTA 6 have been launched on the identical day as its deliberate PlayStation and Xbox debut.

In style knowledge is that Rockstar delays PC releases by a yr or extra to attempt to promote a number of copies or variations to avid gamers who’ve each a console and a PC. It’s “two bites on the apple,” as Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier describes it. PC avid gamers have held a grudge about this for a very long time, but don’t appear to have any downside shopping for Rockstar video games once they lastly arrive.

In case you’re a PC gamer who rankles on the considered needing to purchase a PlayStation to play GTA 6 anytime quickly, possibly I can give you a salve: Although Rockstar video games do take a yr or extra to succeed in our shores, they have an inclination to reach with quite a lot of the preliminary bugs and complications sorted out, plus additional options like enhanced visuals and the first-person mode that GTA 5 bought upon its PC launch in 2015. And for those who’re something like me, you’ve bought a dozen or so unplayed video games in your Steam library to tide you over.