Strauss Zelnick Interview: Take-Two CEO on Game Pricing

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has given a wide-ranging interview to veteran reporter Stephen Totilo of Game File. The conversation spanned the company’s plans for the BioShock franchise and the industry’s ongoing debate over rising game prices — topics that matter to anyone tracking Grand Theft Auto VI, since Take-Two owns Rockstar Games.

Vice City at sunset, from the first GTA VI trailer. Credit: Rockstar Games.

Why GTA fans pay attention to Zelnick

Zelnick rarely comments directly on individual Rockstar projects, but as the head of Rockstar’s parent company he is one of the few executives who speaks publicly about the business decisions shaping them. His remarks on company-wide topics — pricing, franchise strategy, and the broader market — are typically the closest investors and players get to official signals between Rockstar’s own announcements.

The pricing discussion is the part most relevant to GTA VI watchers. Across the industry, publishers have been testing higher price points on major releases, and the question of how much a flagship title should cost has become one of 2025’s most-debated topics. Because GTA VI is among the most anticipated releases in gaming, any shift in how Take-Two frames pricing is read closely by the community for clues about what to expect at launch.

Context: a familiar Take-Two playbook

Take-Two has long positioned itself around a small number of high-budget, high-impact franchises, and the BioShock comments in Totilo’s interview fit that pattern — the series, published under Take-Two’s 2K label, has been in development for years. Zelnick’s willingness to discuss it alongside pricing reflects the company’s usual approach of talking strategy in broad strokes while leaving specific game details to its studios.

What’s next

For now, the most reliable forward-looking signals from Take-Two come on its quarterly earnings calls, where Zelnick and the leadership team regularly field questions about the company’s release slate and financial guidance. For GTA VI specifically, Rockstar’s own Newswire remains the only official source — and anything Zelnick says at the corporate level should be read as context, not as a Rockstar announcement.

We’ll update this article if Take-Two issues a formal statement or if Rockstar follows up through official channels.

Source: Game File, interview by Stephen Totilo (see citation above).