Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take Two, has stated during a talk at CNBC’s Technology Executive Council Summit earlier this week that he believes the inherent lack of creativity of AI means it wouldn’t have a major impact on development on games including Grand Theft Auto.
In response to the impact that AI has had on the development of video games, Strauss suggested it has been “limited” though noted that he’s not a “naysayer” in regards to the technology.
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Let’s say there were no constraints. Could we push a button tomorrow and create an equivalent to the ‘Grand Theft Auto’, and the marketing plan, and here it is? The answer is no. A, you can’t do that yet, and B, I am of the view that you wouldn’t end up with anything very good. You end up with something pretty derivative.
Whether people in Silicon Valley like to hear this or not, AI is big datasets, with lots of compute, attached to a large language model. So what are datasets by definition? They’re backward-looking. Anything that involves backward-looking data compute and LLMs, AI is really good for, and that and that applies to lots of things that we do at Take-Two. Anything that isn’t attached to that, it’s going to be really, really bad at…. there is no creativity that can exist, by definition, in any AI model, because it is data driven.
Grand Theft Auto VI is currently in production at Rockstar Games and is scheduled for release in May 2026. There’s been a lot of chatter about the price point for the upcoming crime opus, and recently the designer of the original Saints Row has suggested the game deserves to be priced at $100. Strauss himself has said that GTA VI will have a ‘fair price,’ but just what that is remains to be seen.
Back in April, Strauss said during an interview with Bloomberg TV that AI technology would not be able to produce a competent competitor to Grand Theft Auto, arguing that human developers always have a important place in the creative process regardless of how advanced technology becomes.