Take-Two CEO Debunks Best Buy GTA 6 Pre-Order Rumors

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has personally shot down rumors that Best Buy was about to open Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders, gaming outlet AltChar reports. The speculation had spread rapidly across social media and Reddit communities, prompting Zelnick to address the claims directly and pour cold water on hopes of an imminent retail listing.

How the rumor spread

The cycle began earlier this week after screenshots and second-hand accounts purported to show internal Best Buy systems preparing a GTA 6 pre-order SKU. Within hours, the claim had been amplified by aggregator accounts and reposted across r/GTA6 and other enthusiast forums, with some posts framing the listing as a near-certainty. By the time mainstream outlets began chasing the story, Take-Two’s communications team had already been fielding questions about timing.

Zelnick’s intervention is unusual but not unprecedented. The Take-Two chief has historically pushed back when leak-driven speculation threatens to set unrealistic expectations among investors and players. Past examples include his repeated denials of premature release-window leaks and his polite but firm refusal to confirm or deny insider-sourced platform claims during quarterly earnings calls.

Why Rockstar — not Best Buy — sets the timeline

Major Rockstar Games milestones are announced through the official Rockstar Newswire, not through individual retailers. Historically, pre-orders for flagship Rockstar titles open within a defined window of the release date, typically after a finalised launch date and pricing have been confirmed. A retailer surfacing a SKU ahead of that announcement would represent a significant break from the publisher’s established marketing cadence.

That cadence is also tightly coordinated with platform holders, regional ratings boards and Take-Two’s investor calendar — which makes a quiet retail leak even less likely than community speculation suggested.

What’s next

Take-Two has previously reaffirmed Grand Theft Auto VI for a 2026 launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Until Rockstar publishes an official storefront or retailer page through Newswire, any retailer-led pre-order listing should be treated as unverified — regardless of how plausible the screenshot looks.

For now the takeaway is straightforward: the Best Buy story was wrong, the CEO said so on the record, and pre-orders are not imminent.