Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 6 launches in November for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, but is it also going to release on PC? It won't at launch, but history suggests it will come to PC further down the track. Now, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has commented on the company's approach to PC releases generally.
At the company's virtual shareholder meeting today, as reported by GamesRadar, Zelnick said Take-Two's general approach is that the company will put out games "for any platforms for which there is a meaningful audience."
Intriguingly, Zelnick went on to say that, "the PC is becoming more and more important to our company over time."
Again, he was not talking about GTA 6 here, but rather Take-Two's approach to PC generally. In any event, these comments only further the idea that it's a matter of when, not if, GTA 6 comes to PC (of course).
Historical precedent for Rockstar's PC releases
Rockstar's latest releases, including Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018) and Grand Theft Auto 5 (2013) launched first on console and later came to PC.
GTA 5 came to PC in April 2015, which was 18 months after the game originally launched on console in September 2013.
Red Dead Redemption 2, meanwhile, came to PC faster. The game's PC edition released in November 2019, which was just about a year after the game debuted on console in October 2018.
What does it all mean for GTA 6? We don't know, but it's a safe bet that GTA 6 will eventually come to PC, and people should likely expect to wait at least a year.
Rockstar and Sony have a co-marketing deal for GTA 6, but that's not the reason why GTA 6 isn't coming to PC at launch. Zelnick told Bloomberg that Rockstar Games is known to launch GTA games first on console before PC, and that is because, “I think with regard to a release like that you’re judged by serving the core [audience].”
When Zelnick joined Take-Two in 2007, he said PC sales made up only around 5% of total sales volumes for the NBA 2K series. That’s changed a lot since then. “Now with regard to a big title, PC can be 45, 50% of the sales,” he said.
Bringing GTA 6 to PC after console could also create a second selling cycle for the game, with people even possibly buying the game twice. “We’ll see how it works out,” Zelnick said.
"Priortize what sells"
In 2023, a former Rockstar developer offered up a theory on why GTA 6 won’t come to PC at launch. Mike York, who worked on Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, said Rockstar wants to “prioritize what sells.”
“Most of the time, especially in the past, PlayStation was the big seller. PlayStation was the console to have. It sold more copies than any other console for the most part, everybody is playing PlayStation," he said.
In other news, Rockstar just announced GTA 6: The Album, and unlike the game itself, it will be available on a disc.
