Take-Two CEO says Rockstar aims to set new creative benchmarks with the next GTA

Take-Two Interactive's chief executive, Strauss Zelnick, said on August 8, 2022 that development of the next Grand Theft Auto was "well underway" and that Rockstar Games was "determined to once again set creative benchmarks for the series." The line was part of his prepared remarks on Take-Two's call for the first quarter of its 2023 fiscal year, according to a transcript of the call, and was picked up by VGC.

Zelnick pitched the ambition wider than GTA itself. He said Rockstar wanted to raise the bar for the games industry and for entertainment in general, as he said it had done with each of its big releases.

For players, there was nothing new to act on. Zelnick did not name the game or give a release window, setting or platforms, and VGC still called it unnamed. His remarks did not address Bloomberg's report from late July about the game's leads and setting.

The surrounding comments were about Rockstar's current games. Zelnick said GTA V had sold in nearly 170 million units and Red Dead Redemption 2 more than 45 million. He added that GTA Online's player base on the newest consoles had grown by more than 40% in the quarter, helped by the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions released the quarter before.

Rockstar's own statements that year came in February and July; our timeline puts them in order.