GTA 6 on PC isn’t an afterthought — it is a second payday

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

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

“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 instructed Bloomberg. “Like actually serving the core shopper. In case your core shopper isn’t there, in the event that they’re not served first and greatest, you form 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 a degree of competition for years. For a small growth crew, taking time to port a recreation is comprehensible (though as of late, smaller video games usually begin on PC and later go to console). However Grand Theft Auto is likely one of the largest 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 price over a billion {dollars} to develop. The thought that Rockstar might be in any means restricted by growth sources is laughable.

By no means thoughts that as of late, creating cross-platform has by no means been simpler. Each the Xbox Collection X/S and PlayStation 5 are primarily based 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 speedy deployment throughout PCs, consoles, and even cell (the Change and Change 2 are Arm-based). Hell, the actual fact that Rockstar’s personal video games like GTA 5 and Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 come to PC with higher graphics and extra choices is proof that it’s potential, 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 may make 5 p.c of the gross sales of a recreation like NBA 2K. Now it’s 45 to 50 p.c of that recreation, even when sports activities titles are inclined to do higher on consoles to reap the benefits of a lounge multiplayer setup. Neither Take-Two nor Rockstar have given a report of how GTA 5 or Pink Lifeless Redemption 2 have bought with a platform breakdown, however the latter is at the moment #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 shopper” for Grand Theft Auto in 2026? Once more, Take-Two isn’t making it simple to find out. A current little bit of leaked Rockstar knowledge 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 definitely backs up the concept that console is the place the cash is coming from. But it surely’s not the one knowledge to think about. In response to the identical leaked knowledge, GTA 5 bought over 34 million copies on PC between June 2021 and March 2026, accounting for about 46 p.c of complete gross sales throughout platforms.

This can be 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 no less than one copy of GTA 5 in the event that they needed it. But it surely appears painfully apparent that Rockstar would promote a completely staggering quantity of copies to PC players if GTA 6 have been launched on the identical day as its deliberate PlayStation and Xbox debut.

Fashionable knowledge is that Rockstar delays PC releases by a 12 months or extra to try to promote a number of copies or variations to players who’ve each a console and a PC. It’s “two bites on the apple,” as Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier describes it. PC players have held a grudge about this for a very long time, but don’t appear to have any drawback shopping for Rockstar video games once they lastly arrive.

Should 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 12 months or extra to achieve our shores, they have a tendency to reach with numerous the preliminary bugs and complications sorted out, plus further options like enhanced visuals and the first-person mode that GTA 5 bought upon its PC launch in 2015. And in case you’re something like me, you’ve bought a dozen or so unplayed video games in your Steam library to tide you over.