GTA publisher boss says he's 'running scared' despite billions in the bank and a GTA 6-sized financial nuke on the horizon: 'We are looking over our shoulders'

Strauss Zelnick—CEO of GTA publisher Take-Two—has revised his expectations. On the back of stronger-than-expected financial results for its first quarter of financial year 2026 (which takes place, in our mortal realm, in the actual year 2025), the company now anticipates making between $6.1 and $6.2 billion for the overall financial year, up from its prior guidance of $5.95 to $6.05 billion. Which must be nice.

And yet in a chat with The Game Business, Zelnick says the general operating procedure at the corporate C-suite is to act like you're being pursued by wolves. "We are looking over our shoulders. We are running scared," said the CEO.

Which on the one hand is just boilerplate corpospeak. There's not an MBA in the world who isn't desperate to corner you with chat about how 'hungry,' 'ambitious,' and 'agile' they are, even if they administrate the slow bulk of a stock-market-topping corporate goliath. Sitting down and telling reporters 'honestly, everything's going really well so I've sort of stopped caring' is liable to send your share price the wrong way, after all.

But it's worth noting the precise question Zelnick is responding to. The Game Business put to the boss that the tastes of younger generations seem to be mutating. Does gen alpha lust after graphical fidelity and miles-deep simulation? It does not. It's playing Roblox, which looks like a PS1 threw up. Take-Two does not, currently, have much that's poised to muscle in on that space.

"I am fond of saying that arrogance is the enemy of continued success," said Zelnick. "We know that in the next two, three, five, ten years… there is going to be an array of big new titles, and maybe even some new formats."

The implication being that, if Take-Two gets too comfortable on its GTA throne and fails to keep pace with industry trends, there's every chance it could easily end up outstripped and supplanted by competitors. If I were a Take-Two investor, these are words I'd like to hear, but it doesn't sound like Take-Two quite knows where it's going with it all just yet—or at least, it's not ready to chat about it.

"Our three-part strategy is to be the most creative, the most innovative and the most efficient company in the business," said Zelnick, which means nothing. "I am not sure specifically about what young people want versus any other segment of the population, but I am sure there is great opportunity if you bring somebody something fantastic and unexpected."

That's not so much a plan as it is a vibe. It's probably the right vibe, but I suspect Zelnick and co will have to work it into something more concrete once GTA 6 finally releases next year and the inevitable financial sugar-rush it brings starts to ebb, prompting investors to start asking about the next thing. Zelnick is, at least, well aware of all this. Last year, he got to waxing philosophical about the ephemeral nature of all things, GTA included: "If we're not trying new things ... we're really running the risk of burning the furniture to heat the house."