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Can AI create the next GTA 6? Rockstar Games boss finds that idea "laughable"

It takes real people to make a hit game. Or a hit anything, according to the CEO of the GTA developer's parent company.

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Wed Mar 18 2026

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Game companies around the world are investing in AI, despite fans repeatedly begging them not to. However, with game development getting bigger and more expensive, it is inevitable that some companies will look for ways to cut costs. However, Take Two CEO isn’t worried about AI making the next GTA 6 simply because AI can’t make anything that fans want to stick with.

Take-Two is the parent company of Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games, and its CEO, Strauss Zelnick, recently appeared on The Game Business Show. Along with plenty of other pressing topics, Zelnick was asked about the possibility of AI allowing just anyone to make a game on the level of GTA 6, which is certainly going to be one of the biggest hits of 2026 (if it indeed comes out this year). Is it something he is worried about?

“Not even the littlest bit,” Zelnick said. “There’s already plenty of technology out there that allow people to create video games, and as a result, thousands of video games are created every year, and yet the hits all cluster among the large entertainment companies, almost entirely, and now and then, an indie, which is generally speaking well-funded and pretty robust in and of itself. The notion that somehow new tools would allow an individual to push a button and generate a hit and bring it to many millions of consumers around the world, it’s a laughable notion.”

Zelnick takes reassurance from other areas of the entertainment business for why fans won’t immediately flock to AI-created games. “It’s just never been the case with entertainment. Right now [in music] there are programs that allow you to put out a prompt and get a professionally recorded song spit back out at you. It sounds like a song, but I defy you to listen to it more than once. It’s great to send as a greeting card to your partner on their birthday, but that’s about it.”

The gaming industry has come a long way since Pong blew all our minds in the 70s. We've got everything you need to know about the next big thing in games. Of course, Grand Theft Auto VI is going to be the big game of 2026, but there are plenty of other games coming out between now and then. Here is our starter guide for every gamer: