People are very reasonably skeptical about Grand Theft Auto VI‘s November 19, 2026 release date, not least given two previous launch plans have been abandoned. Rockstar revealed in May 2024 that it would no longer release as planned in fall 2025, but now May 26, 2026. Then in November the same year it was pushed back yet another six months to the current promised date. People are on tenterhooks waiting to find out if it will slip yet again, 13 years on since the release of the previous entry in the franchise. But an ambush interview of Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick by Tiktoker The School of Hard Knocks has once more affirmed there will be no more delays.
The TikTok channel appears to be a pretty gross outlet for interviewing billionaires to ask them how they got rich “to help the younger generation,” and ew. In this particular instance, what looks like it should be a staged ambush does appear to be pretty genuine, given the Tiktoker’s apparent surprise to learn who Zelnick is and the company he runs. Who knows, maybe he can act a bit, but his question of “When is GTA 6 coming out man?” (captioned “GTA XI,” but Roman numerals, man) really doesn’t come across as someone demanding to know if a promise is being kept but rather as someone genuinely not knowing.
“November 19,” Zelnick replies, before being bombarded with further goggle-eyed questions. “What was the most amount of money you made in a single year?” he asks the CEO, who then gives Take Two’s revenue figures for 2025 ($6.7 billion) and this year’s projected figure (“a little over $8 billion”). He’s then asked for a business lesson he wasn’t taught at Harvard, to which the owner of the company that releases NBA 2K games every year says, “Never compromise your integrity. It’s the only thing you have.”
Asked if people should “chase their passion,” Zelnick gives a slightly nuanced response. “I think that’s terrible advice, half the time. People should chase the intersection of what they’re good at and what they like to do, with emphasis on what you’re good at.” It’s still spoken from a position of privilege, but it’s not the worst advice. But then he goes straight back to Rich Guy Bullshit by adding, “Do that and the world will probably open up to you.” No dude, it opened up to you, a member of the self-selecting minuscule minority of those who got stupidly lucky.
But there we are. Even off the cuff it seems Take-Two are convinced Rockstar are going to hit this deadline with just five months left to go. Could it actually be true? There would be so many developers and publishers so very pissed off if it weren’t!