As the world prepares for the arrival of Grand Theft Auto 6 (hopefully this year), many have been wondering whether gen-AI would make its way into Rockstar Games‘ gigantic project somehow. Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has plainly stated that AI is incapable of creativity of its own.
“You wouldn’t end up with anything very good,” he said in late 2025. A few months later, it seems his stance hasn’t changed. At least, that’s the impression we got from Christopher Dring’s interview with Zelnick at The Game Business.
“The history of our industry is that we’ve always used technology to create great entertainment… So, an advance in technology that allows us to do things better and quicker is great for us.” He continued by saying he was “stunned by the market’s reaction” because he doesn’t see such technological advancements as a threat to creative work.
“I think the bare case for big entertainment companies is somehow that AI tools will mean everyone can create hits, but that doesn’t stand to reason.” Though no plans have been revealed at Take-Two in order to take advantage of recent AI tools, Zelnick doesn’t shoot down the idea of creating “assets” with the help of the controversial utilities, though he underlines that it won’t help anyone conjure up winners. As far as the Take-Two boss is concerned “human engagement and creativity” are required.
“It all depends on your expectations… No one ever added value with a PowerPoint presentation,” he says later in the interview. “Nonetheless, lots of them are made all the time… But no one’s saying: ‘that’s great. Chris, we’re going to give you a big promotion because of the amazing PowerPoint you did for the internal committee’. That’s not what we get paid for.”
Circling back to video games, he admits tools that predate Google’s Project Genie have empowered more people to create games, yet among “thousands of video games” that release each year, most hits come from “large entertainment companies” and indies that generally are “pretty robust”. He’s not wrong; thousands of games hit Steam every month, but due to discoverability issues and sheer volume, a huge amount of games go under the radar.
“Every entertainment business that was supposed to be destroyed by new technology hasn’t been,” he added, citing music and vaudeville, the latter of which has simply evolved into the live comedy shows and theatre. If you’re thinking this sounds peculiarly positive – especially with the context of how much negativity we’re seeing about AI – it’s because Zelnick is a self-described optimist: “When I was a little kid, calculators came along and parents were all up in arms that now schools would not teach kids math because they had access to calculators. Well, people are learning math today, even though there are calculators.”
