GTA 6 won’t be a day one Xbox Game Pass or PS Plus release says Take-Two-Michael Beckwith-Entertainment – Metro

Take-Two’s CEO still isn’t completely sold on the idea of subscription services for games (pic: Rockstar Games)

Take-Two remains sceptical of subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and seems to agree with Sony on day one launches.

Between Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, there is currently a big push towards video game subscription services. Where, rather than purchase games individually, customers pay a regular fee to access a Netflix-esque library of digital games.

Both Microsoft and Sony have been eager to convince more and more people to sign up for their respective services, with the former adding all of its own first party exclusives, like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5, to Game Pass on their day of release.

Sony, by comparison, would rather not make its exclusives free from day one for PS Plus subscribers; an opinion shared by Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

While he never directly mentions Grand Theft Auto 6 or any specific games, his comments do effectively rule out the possibility of GTA 6 releasing on any subscription service the same day as it launches – since Take-Two own developer Rockstar Gamers.

‘On the subscription side, look, we’ve been very cooperative with both Sony and Microsoft on their subscription offerings when it makes sense for us,’ he explains, reiterating his own scepticism for subscription services for interactive media (i.e., video games) in general.

‘People consume far fewer hours of interactive entertainment in a given month than they do of linear entertainment. And within that consumption, there are far fewer titles consumed in interactive entertainment than there are with linear entertainment.’

He argues that day and date releases on a subscription service like Game Pass make no sense as they’re a ‘lost opportunity for the publisher.’

‘There probably is a subscription business,’ he continues. ‘It’s a catalogue business. It’s probably best aimed at very avid consumers because those are the consumers who are interested in playing catalogue titles, implying a whole bunch of different titles in a given month.

‘But I don’t think it’s a mass market service that supplants the interactive entertainment business as we know it at all.’

GTA 6 still lacks a release date but is widely assumed to launch for current consoles (pic: Rockstar Games)

His statement comes from a recent earnings call with investors, as transcribed by The Motley Fool.

Zelnick’s beliefs have only been backed up by recent data concerning Xbox Game Pass. Despite being profitable, it hasn’t been making near as much money as Microsoft hoped for and has missed its growth targets for the second year in a row.

PS Plus isn’t faring that much better, having lost just under 2 million subscribers in the last few months, following its big revamp.

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Given that, it’s understandable that Take-Two has little interest in adding a game like GTA 6 to a subscription service at launch. Such a game is expected to sell millions on brand recognition alone, so why make it free to so much of its potential audience?

Zelnick could very well change his tune should Game Pass and PS Plus start to attract a lot more users and turn more of a profit, but that day seems to be a long way off. But then so does the launch of GTA 6 itself…

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