Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick recently sat down with The Wall Street Journal at a tech conference to discuss the company and the imminent release of Grand Theft Auto 6. It’s set to be the biggest video game launch in history, and it’s expected to sell tens of millions in the first week alone.
The interview started awfully when a question was posed about Take-Two’s lack of success, and the talk quickly turned to the use of artificial intelligence in game development. It was a question that Zelnick answered masterfully, leaning on Grand Theft Auto 6 as an example.
Does GTA 6 Use AI?
Every game on the market (almost) is developed using some kind of artificial intelligence or machine learning-driven system. These tools are commonplace across the industry, and they enable studios, especially smaller studios, to iterate faster, often at a lower cost. They can help to automate mundane processes, and whether you like it or not, the idea is well and truly here to stay.
That doesn’t always have to mean generative AI that produces art, music, or some character voices. The depth of what you blanket as ‘AI’ runs wild in the technology space, and even something like using Copilot on a work computer to organize your emails could be considered ‘using AI in game development.’
That’s what Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive, alluded to in his recent interview with the WSJ:
Remember, AI is sort of a mixed term in the video game business, because consumers are taking the position that (they) don’t want to have anything that’s called AI involved with (their) video games.
Grand Theft Auto is handcrafted, and that said, it should not come as a huge surprise to you that video games are created in computers with technology.
We’ve been in the AI business and machine learning business since the beginning of time.
Obviously we’re well aware of this. We’re trying everything we can to make better games more efficiently and I have some confidence that that can occur (using AI).
This is the same guy who said earlier this year that the concept of artificial intelligence creating a ‘hit game’ is laughable.
Grand Theft Auto 6 will have absolutely used artificial intelligence in some way in the development pipeline, but the teams under the Rockstar Games banner pride themselves on creating immersive, incredible worlds off the back of serious human talent.
The satirical brands, the cars that parody real-world vehicles, the tongue-in-cheek corporations, and the visual elements like characters, mascots, and in-game art are the culmination of decades of GTA experience and sticking to a formula that has worked since the series emerged.
We know there are teams at the many Rockstar studios around the world dedicated to all aspects of the game. There are teams that focus on in-game advertisements, some that focus on foliage, others that focus on weapon design, clothing, hair, tattoos, shadows, water, and just about everything else you could imagine.
That said, I’ll happily eat my words when Grand Theft Auto 6 comes out if someone can find a stark example of a piece of generative-AI art in a safehouse, or something. You never know! But Strauss Zelnick did say in February that generative AI has had no part in the development of GTA 6.
Earlier this year, it was stated that the open world in GTA 6 is controlled by intelligent AI, which is no big surprise.
Do you care if GTA 6 has used generative AI to come to life? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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