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Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick recently clarified that Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6 is being built without generative AI to ensure a premium experience. This news arrived alongside the company’s strong Q3 results, proving that the studio’s “handcrafted” philosophy remains a major financial draw.
The company reported excellent results even though the game’s release date was previously shifted. This commitment to manual labor serves as a direct challenge to new industry trends favoring automation.
Why Rockstar is Avoiding Generative AI
Rockstar Games is intentionally avoiding generative AI, which is technology that uses existing data to create new content like images or code. Instead, the studio is building the world of GTA 6 “building by building and street by street” to maintain its reputation for detail.
This rejection of procedural generation—the use of computer programs to create game environments automatically—serves as a massive brand differentiator. By avoiding these shortcuts, Rockstar ensures its digital neighborhoods feel like real places rather than random computer outputs.
Zelnick confirmed the game will hit its revised release date of November 19th and maintains that AI has “zero part” in the creative process. While the game worlds remain human-made, the company still finds plenty of room for high-tech tools in its daily operations.
How AI Actually Fits In
Take-Two is not a stranger to technology, as Zelnick maintains the company has been a leader in machine learning from the very beginning. The firm currently runs hundreds of “pilots,” or small-scale tests of new tech, across all its studios to find better ways to work.
These tools are designed to drive “time efficiencies,” which simply means helping staff finish technical tasks faster to save money. However, Zelnick insists that because AI is fundamentally data-driven, it cannot replace the artistic spark that human developers bring to a project.
By using AI as a tool rather than a creator, the company stays efficient without losing its creative soul. This balance between tech-driven efficiency and human art has led to some of the company’s strongest financial results to date.
Beating the Market Expectations
Financial health is the engine that allows Rockstar to spend years hand-building massive projects like GTA 6. Take-Two recently reported $1.76 billion in net bookings, which is the total value of all products and services sold to customers.
Total revenue hit $1.70 billion, beating the numbers that experts on Wall Street expected the company to earn. These results helped the company recover after Google’s “Genie” tool—an AI that creates playable worlds instantly—caused a temporary dip in the stock price.
This performance was boosted by a 27% jump in GTA Online revenue and a 30% increase in consumer spending for NBA 2K. These massive earnings are supported by a strategy that looks far beyond just one or two big-budget titles.
From Mobile to Sports
Take-Two maintains a diversified portfolio, which is a strategy of owning many different game types to ensure the company doesn’t rely on just one hit. This safety net allows the company to stay profitable even when massive projects like GTA 6 face development delays.
Mobile Success: The mobile gaming branch, Zynga, is currently “crushing it” with a 19% growth rate that exceeded the company’s internal goals. Hit titles Toon Blast and Match Factory saw revenue growth of 43% and 17% respectively.
Global Sports Strategy: NBA 2K continues to dominate the market with 8 million units sold, though Zelnick aims to take the franchise even further. He plans to push into international markets to challenge the current leaders for the title of the world’s biggest sports game.
Update on Borderlands: The launch of Borderlands 4 was a bit softer than expected, but the company remains optimistic about its future. Ongoing updates for titles like these ensure a steady flow of income as the company prepares for its next era of growth.
The Future of Handcrafted Entertainment
Take-Two’s strategy proves that while AI can handle the boring parts of game-making, humans are still the masters of the art. By keeping GTA 6 handcrafted, the company is betting that players will always value human effort over automated generation.
With new marketing beats for GTA 6 coming soon, Take-Two is ready to prove that its human-first approach is the industry gold standard. The company remains fully confident in its November release date and its ability to lead the market through artistic excellence.
