Take-Two CEO defends GTA 6 delay, takes veiled shot at a 'high profile' flop

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is doubling down on the decision to delay Grand Theft Auto 6, suggesting other publishers have paid the price for rushing games out the door, per PC Gamer.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Zelnick was asked about his reaction to the delay. He admitted the timing was inconvenient but framed the move as necessary to fulfill Take-Two's mission of making "the best entertainment on earth."

He contrasted this with what he called "the other approach," where teams are slavishly devoted to a schedule. "I'm not going to throw any competitors under the bus," Zelnick said. "But if you know anything about the videogame business in the past few years there was a very high profile release that fell into this category. They shipped and they had to pull the title after shipping because it didn't work."

The PC Gamer article speculates, though does not confirm, that Zelnick's comments are a reference to the live-service shooter Concord, which was pulled from sale shortly after its launch.

Zelnick also commented on the game's budget to The Wall Street Journal, calling it "expensive" and saying it "took a long time," as reported by GameSpot.