Highlights
- Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said on the Founders podcast that Grand Theft Auto VI is roughly 18 months behind its original internal schedule, a figure that exceeds the publicly announced delays by four to six months.
- The math points to a previously undisclosed slip before the December 2023 trailer, suggesting Rockstar's first internal target was as early as spring 2025.
- Zelnick reaffirmed the November 19, 2026 release date for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, four days before Take-Two's May 21 earnings call.
Take-Two Interactive Chief Executive Strauss Zelnick said Grand Theft Auto VI is about 18 months behind the schedule Rockstar Games first set internally, a disclosure that points to a delay the public never saw.
Speaking on the Founders podcast hosted by David Senra on May 17, Zelnick said, "I think we're about 18 months behind the original date. Not much more than that." He also reaffirmed the game's November 19, 2026 launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, telling Senra, "November 19th. I do know."
The 18-month figure does not line up with the two delays Rockstar has announced. The studio first pointed to a 2025 window when Trailer 1 dropped in December 2023, narrowed to Fall 2025 on a May 2024 earnings call, and then pushed the date to May 26, 2026. A second delay on November 6, 2025 moved launch to November 19, 2026. The gap between Fall 2025 and November 2026 is roughly 12 to 14 months, not 18.
The four-to-six month difference suggests Rockstar's original internal target was closer to spring 2025, and that the game had already slipped before the first trailer aired. Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson and other community analysts have read Zelnick's comments the same way.
Why Rockstar's internal timelines often slip
Zelnick framed the slippage as a quality call rather than a production problem. He compared the situation to the original Borderlands, where developers asked to rebuild the art style two months before launch at a cost of about $50 million and a year of additional development. Take-Two approved that change, and Zelnick said the same logic applies to Rockstar now.
He pointed to Grand Theft Auto V's continued earnings as the financial cushion that lets Rockstar take more time. "Online games are highly social experiences," Zelnick said, referring to the GTA Online ecosystem that has carried the franchise for more than a decade. Leaked figures from the April ShinyHunters breach showed GTA Online still generates roughly $1.3 million in daily revenue.
The interview timing is notable. Take-Two's fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call is scheduled for May 21, and a leaked Best Buy affiliate email earlier this month suggested pre-orders could open as soon as May 18. Take-Two's share price has climbed in recent weeks on speculation around the November launch and the start of summer marketing.
Zelnick has now publicly defended the November 19 date five separate times in 2026, at the February earnings call, at the iicon conference in April, in a Bloomberg interview, again at iicon, and on Founders. The language has tightened over time, from "feel very good" earlier this year to the flat "I do know" used this week.
A third public delay would be unusual but not unprecedented for Rockstar. The studio has slipped almost every major release in the past decade, including Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Max Payne 3. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has reported that the November 6, 2025 delay was not connected to the firing of 34 Rockstar employees on October 30, 2025, an action that drew protest letters from more than 200 workers and questions from U.K. lawmakers.
Rockstar has not commented on Zelnick's 18-month figure. Take-Two declined to expand on the remarks ahead of the May 21 earnings call.
