Take-Two CEO Explains Why Grand Theft Auto VI Will Not Release on Disc

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick described pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI as exceptional during the company’s fiscal first-quarter 2027 earnings call.

Zelnick stated that the start of pre-orders was unmatched in the history of both Take-Two and the entire video game industry.

The publisher declined to disclose the specific number of pre-orders placed. According to Zelnick, the company does not believe it is right to draw premature conclusions about the project’s success prior to its full release.

We received an exceptional response to GTA 6 pre-orders. I am not going to say how many copies have been sold already, but I can say that sales are unprecedented, striking, and astronomical. We do not even know yet how to translate these figures into familiar numbers. We are not celebrating victory ahead of time, but we can say that neither Take-Two nor the entire gaming industry has ever seen anything like this before.

Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two Interactive.

The conference call also touched on the decision by Rockstar and Take-Two to omit physical discs from the retail edition of GTA VI. Commenting on this step, Zelnick explained that more than 90% of the company’s business is based on digital distribution today.

He stated that physical media often no longer makes sense for major modern games, since most users require an internet connection to register and launch the game anyway. At the same time, the Take-Two chief emphasized that the company is not going to completely abandon physical editions, as they will continue to be released wherever justified. He compared such releases to vinyl records, which continue to exist on the music market despite the dominance of digital services.

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