Strauss Zelnick: Netflix debut is merely “one of the hors d’oeuvres” for full GTA 6 launch; pre-order numbers are “unprecedented and astonishing”

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick tells GamesIndustry.biz that the forthcoming Netflix gameplay premiere of GTA 6, which will air on August 27th, is merely “one of the hors d’oeuvres,” for the game’s marketing campaign. “There’s appetizers, main course and dessert to follow,” he says, in a call following the release of the company’s results for Q1 2027 and subsequent Q&A with analysts.

He will not be drawn on the details of the arrangement and if Netflix had paid for the privilege, saying only that Netflix is “a great marketing partner for us, and distribution partner” – the firm having previously released GTA games through the Netflix platform – and that the deal is “a groundbreaking partnership that Rockstar arranged.”

He won’t share any details of pre-order levels, either, following the announcement of an $80 price point for the basic version and $100 for an Ultimate Edition containing additional digital content, saying only that “we are very encouraged by the results that we’ve seen so far.”

He described the level of pre-orders as “unprecedented and astonishing” but that “they are also so unprecedented that we just don’t know how it’ll translate into sales.”

“Nobody’s ever seen anything like this before, at Take-Two or in the industry,” he told analysts. “One of the reasons we’re not changing our guidance is, to be clear, we haven’t sold one unit yet. You can cancel a pre-order. We’re kind of allergic to victory laps round here, and we certainly don’t do the victory lap before the event.”

He said the firm is not tempering any of its expectations for GTA 6’s sales based on the steadily increasing prices for console hardware, either. While he was open that the “rising cost of hardware is not a good thing,” he “doesn’t see it as a headwind” given the wider growth of the hardware install base.

“The world continues to move to open systems, and that will continue,” he said. “20 years ago, on a console release that was available on PC at launch, PC would represent 1-2% of overall sales Today that can be 40% or 50% in a similar situation, and I believe that’s going to grow.” He’s bullish on the potential of streaming, too, seeing current technological trends leading to a near future in which “machines that weren’t game machines before, will become game machines,” meaning that despite console pricing concerns “we see the install base, as a practical matter, growing materially.” He expects low-latency streaming to arrive within three years “and potentially 10x the install base”.

Pressed on this, Zelnick stresses that this is his opinion rather than the company’s. “I’m not putting it into our numbers, so I’m not that confident,” he says. “I was really just sharing my opinion and it could be entirely wrong, but there are enough companies working on this who either are already hyperscalers who have hyperscaler ambitions and capital that I believe we will likely get there.”

“Those sort of boom and bust cycles for the employee base are long gone. We think we’re right-sized for the opportunity, and if anything, we’re in growth mode”

Unsurprisingly, he won’t make any commitment to which titles the company will publish on these platforms or when. “Our strategy is to release on whatever devices can properly represent our properties and which have meaningful install bases in the form of some time,” he says. “And that’s historically what we’ve done.”

Zelnick is confident that the company won’t be making major staff cuts after the game’s long-delayed release, either. “We haven’t done that in a long time,” he says. “With regard to all of our hit titles, we have ongoing opportunities for the consumers to engage post-release because we have more content coming. And so those sort of boom and bust cycles for the employee base are long gone. We think we’re right-sized for the opportunity, and if anything, we’re in growth mode.”

He also feels good about Take Two remaining public, even as EA and Devolver withdraw from the public markets. “We obviously trade well, but not everyone likes being public,” he says. “I think it’s totally fine. It just means that you have to be in the habit of being honest and transparent, which I am, and it’s worked out really well for us.”

“And obviously being a public company gives you the opportunity to use your securities to do acquisitions, or for example, as we did last summer, quickly to go to the marketplace to raise incremental capital. Those are opportunities that a public company can pursue, that a private company would have more difficulty with.”