GTA 6 lands PlayStation 5 marketing deal, as Take-Two head implies PC is not Rockstar’s “core” audience
Grand Theft Auto 6 has secured a marketing deal with PlayStation 5 as part of its console-focused release strategy. The game is scheduled to launch in November on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, with no simultaneous PC release planned.
In a Bloomberg interview, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick explained the rationale behind the console-first approach, stating that Rockstar Games has historically prioritized serving its “core consumer” on console platforms. According to Zelnick, success with major releases requires focusing resources on where the primary audience resides: “If your core consumer isn’t there, if they’re not served first and best, you kind of don’t hit your other consumers.”
While acknowledging the growing importance of PC as a market, Zelnick noted that the situation has evolved significantly since he joined Take-Two in 2007. At that time, PC represented only about 5% of sales for franchises like NBA 2K, but this has grown substantially—with PC now accounting for 45-50% of sales for major titles. Despite this trend, Rockstar Games maintains its traditional approach of prioritizing console releases.
The delay of GTA 6’s PC version reflects Rockstar’s long-standing strategy of concentrating development and marketing efforts on console platforms initially, where the studio considers its primary player base to be located.