Zelnick: no regrets over the GTA VI delay

Take-Two chief executive Strauss Zelnick has told the Wall Street Journal that he does not regret delaying Grand Theft Auto VI, a decision he has defended repeatedly.

His argument is about cost versus risk. Zelnick said these calls are a balancing act with creative executives, and that they involve resources as well as time. Sometimes, he said, you have to make expensive and inconvenient decisions in service of the mission to make the best entertainment on earth.

He also took a swipe at the alternative. Being slavishly devoted to a schedule and shipping regardless can backfire, Zelnick said, pointing to a very high-profile release in recent years that shipped and then had to be pulled after launch because it didn't work. He did not name the game.

Asked how he reacted when the team said GTA VI needed more time, Zelnick said he doesn't always feel calm but tends to come across that way. The timing was not great, he added, since Take-Two had held a board retreat 10 days earlier.

The point of it all is that Zelnick accepts the extra cost of a delay to avoid the risk of a failed launch. Rockstar's own record points the same way: Red Dead Redemption 2 also moved more than once before it shipped.

What we don't know yet: PC Gamer guesses the unnamed release is Concord, but that is the outlet's own bet, not something Zelnick said.