GTA 6 will be played by ‘a lot’ of teenagers and Roblox fans says Take-Two boss

The CEO of Take-Two has discussed whether he’s worried about younger audiences skipping GTA 6, as the series’ original audience grows up.

GTA 6 is expected to be one of the biggest entertainment launches ever when it lands on November 19, 2026, but it’s coming out at a very different time for the games industry.

Over the past decade, we’ve seen the playing habits of younger generations shift away from consoles to mobile games and ongoing behemoths like Roblox. While GTA 5 has remained popular over the years, since it launched in 2013 – thanks to consistent updates for GTA Online – it’s now been 13 years since the franchise’ last instalment.

In an interview with The Game Business, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked to comment on the fact that people who first played GTA 5 are now much older and (presumably) have less time to play games, and if that’s something he’s worried about.

‘Look, many of our games appeal to all audiences,’ Zelnick replied. ‘For example, our NBA game, our WWE game, our mobile games. Others of our games are specifically tailored at audiences that are 17 and above, for example, GTA. So we serve all audiences and we market our products appropriately to the audience in question.’

Zelnick insists they don’t ‘sit around’ and calculate the identity of their target audience, but instead they ‘think in terms of making the greatest entertainment on Earth’, adding: ‘And then you know what happens more often than not? Everyone shows up.’

When asked about there are different time pressures among people who played GTA 5 over 12 years ago, versus the age they’ll be with GTA 6, Zelnick stressed that he believes the upcoming sequel will ‘engage every appropriate individual’, whether they’re familiar with the franchise or not.

‘Oh, I think we’re going to have a lot of 17 year-olds playing GTA 6,’ Zelnick said. ‘I don’t think there’s any risk of like, ‘I didn’t play five or four or three or two or one, I’m not showing up.’ To the contrary, I think we’ll be able to engage every appropriate individual in GTA 6.’

He added: ‘And by the way, if you have a console and you’re over 17, just explain to me how it is that you’ve decided, ‘no, no, GTA 6? Not interested.’ I just don’t see it.’

Elsewhere in the same interview, Zelnick was asked if he’s confident that young people who play Roblox will eventually migrate to more traditional games – to which he gave a pretty measured response.

‘Some will, some won’t,’ he replied. ‘There’s no argument that just because you’re a user of Roblox you’ll suddenly become a user of something else. I mean, our thesis is not based on that.

‘But I do believe people who are engaged in interactive entertainment as creators are probably more likely to be users, than someone who’s not engaged.’

While Zelnick seems rightfully confident that GTA 6 will clean up with players young and old when it does launch, the big question is whether it will hit its November release date. All signs suggest it is on track so far, with the game’s marketing set to ramp up in the summer.

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