Take-Two Interactive chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick lately sat down with Bloomberg to speak all issues video video games. The dialog is fairly stuffy should you don’t have a lot curiosity within the enterprise aspect of issues, however Zelnick did present some perception into how subsidiary Rockstar Video games is dealing with Grand Theft Auto 6 advertising and marketing, particularly stating that the developer may not put out a second trailer for the extremely anticipated recreation till we get nearer to its tentative fall 2025 launch window.
“We do have opponents who will describe their launch schedule for years prematurely,” Zelnick informed Bloomberg anchor David Westin as the 2 spoke in an workplace filled with pseudo-shrines to the corporate’s previous successes. “We discovered that the higher factor to do is to offer advertising and marketing supplies comparatively near the discharge window to be able to create that pleasure on the one hand and steadiness the thrill with unmet anticipation. We don’t all the time 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 yr in a while April 30, 2013. Equally, Purple Useless Redemption 2’s first trailer debuted on October 16, 2016, however it took till September 28, 2017 to get a second. Each video games’ advertising and marketing campaigns picked up as they bought nearer to launch, however even then, Rockstar has by no means been about inundating the trade with industrial after industrial main as much as a serious recreation like some studios.
Whereas the starvation this creates in followers can generally be overwhelming, it additionally has the advantage of creating a unique sort of advertising and marketing for which Rockstar doesn’t need to foot the invoice. Again in November 2024, gamerlifemedia reported on a fan concept that the stage of the moon in a Grand Theft Auto On-line screenshot was a clue in direction of when the subsequent Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer would drop. Did this find yourself being true? Completely not — however it was a enjoyable solution to cowl one thing foolish folks had been doing on-line as they awaited one of the crucial anticipated video games on the horizon.
“The anticipation for [Grand Theft Auto 6] could be the best I’ve ever seen for an leisure property,” Zelnick stated when Bloomberg requested concerning the recreation’s secretive launch date, “and I’ve been across the block a number of instances and I’ve been in each leisure enterprise there’s. We need to keep the anticipation and the thrill.”
