Take-Two Interactive chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick just lately sat down with Bloomberg to speak all issues video video games. The dialog is fairly stuffy in the event you don’t have a lot curiosity within the enterprise facet of issues, however Zelnick did present some perception into how subsidiary Rockstar Video games is dealing with Grand Theft Auto 6 advertising, particularly mentioning that the developer won’t put out a second trailer for the extremely anticipated recreation till we get nearer to its tentative fall 2025 launch window.
“We do have rivals who will describe their launch schedule for years prematurely,” Zelnick advised Bloomberg anchor David Westin as the 2 spoke in an workplace stuffed with pseudo-shrines to the corporate’s previous successes. “We discovered that the higher factor to do is to supply advertising supplies comparatively near the discharge window so as to create that pleasure on the one hand and steadiness the joy with unmet anticipation. We don’t at all times get it precisely proper, however that’s what we are attempting to do.”
Going by Rockstar’s earlier video games, this can be a technique the studio has employed earlier than. The preliminary Grand Theft Auto 5 trailer was launched on November 2, 2011, however didn’t get a second till greater than a 12 months afterward April 30, 2013. Equally, Pink Useless Redemption 2’s first trailer debuted on October 16, 2016, nevertheless it took till September 28, 2017 to get a second. Each video games’ advertising campaigns picked up as they obtained nearer to launch, however even then, Rockstar has by no means been about inundating the business with industrial after industrial main as much as a serious recreation like some studios.
Whereas the starvation this creates in followers can typically be overwhelming, it additionally has the advantage of creating a distinct sort of advertising for which Rockstar doesn’t must foot the invoice. Again in November 2024, epicgamejourney reported on a fan concept that the stage of the moon in a Grand Theft Auto On-line screenshot was a clue in the direction of when the subsequent Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer would drop. Did this find yourself being true? Completely not — nevertheless it was a enjoyable technique to cowl one thing foolish individuals had been doing on-line as they awaited one of the anticipated video games on the horizon.
“The anticipation for [Grand Theft Auto 6] often is the best I’ve ever seen for an leisure property,” Zelnick stated when Bloomberg requested in regards to the recreation’s secretive launch date, “and I’ve been across the block just a few occasions and I’ve been in each leisure enterprise there’s. We need to preserve the anticipation and the joy.”
