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Strauss Zelnick

Executive Chairman & CEO, Take-two Interactive

Search every verified Strauss Zelnick interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO of Take-Two Interactive, discussed the company's upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 6 in several recent appearances. In an interview, he stated the game would launch on November 19 and described the Rockstar team's goal as "to do something that's never been done before," which he said takes time. He also mentioned an extended look at the game would premiere on Netflix on August 27, without providing details beyond saying it was "really worth watching." During Take-Two's Q1 fiscal 2027 earnings call, Zelnick said he expected GTA 6 to be "an incredible bargain as experiences go," arguing that AAA game pricing has not kept pace with inflation. In other conversations, Zelnick discussed his leadership approach and business philosophy. He said he does not consider himself a primary consumer of the company's games and that creative decision-making rests with the company's experts. He advised that people should pursue "the intersection of what they're good at and what they like to do," with emphasis on what they are good at. He also reflected on a past instance where he acted against his own views on integrity in business, saying it "hurt me really badly and I learned a powerful lesson." Zelnick described Take-Two's mission as becoming "the number one entertainment company on earth" and emphasized the importance of a strong balance sheet to support creative risk-taking.

Recent appearances

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“What it really means is make sure you have a solid, exceedingly well funded balance sheet and a highly profitable core business so that you can take enormous creative risk. And in the event you're wrong, which you will be now and then, you can live to play another day. And what you can't do in the entertainment business is run a thinly capitalized business on the one hand and take huge creative risk on the other hand”

“The mission of a public company, whether you like it or not, is to create value for the shareholders. If you don't want to do that, then you can't be a public company. Then you have to be something else. And for example, if I owned 100% of the shares of this company and it were like a lifestyle business, then I could decide. And no shame in that, but that's not the structure of our company. There are companies that a”

“I think I've always said to clients, there's no amount of money you can spend on a hit that's too much, and no amount of money you can spend it that's too little.”

“The cost of making the best entertainment on Earth is actually an entry barrier. And so, you know, you don't want to um go up against that from the outside, but when you're in the inside, if you're judicious and you careful about your capital allocation, one could argue it's actually a benefit because you have fewer high-end competitors.”

“We essentially did a hostile takeover with no money. The reason we did that is we had no money. So it was really our only choice.”

“I learned a great lesson which is see people as they are not as you wish they would be. And most people are I found in business including this business highly ethical decent people who can be trusted but now and then people can't be and that was one of those situations and it and it hurt the company badly. The second big mistake probably more painful one which is you know we're we at ZMC are see ourselves as a highly”

Other executives at Take-two Interactive

  • Michael Condrey, President of New Game Development Studio - Silicon Valley

The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →