In recent years, the online landscape has been flooded with AI-generated content, from questionable art to uncanny imitations of beloved franchises. A recent leak from Sony revealed an AI version of Horizon Zero Dawn’s Aloy, indicating that some gaming companies are venturing into this territory. However, Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two, remains unconcerned regarding AI’s potential to dominate the gaming scene—not just because of the high expectations surrounding GTA 6.
During an interview with Carolyn Dailey for her book The Creative Entrepreneur, Zelnick shared his insights on achieving success in the gaming industry. He stated, “Be the most creative: Meaning, hire the best creators and insist they pursue their passions. Encourage them to always try something new and to stay away from derivative and copycat works.” He further emphasized, “In Hollywood, it’s common to pitch your product as ‘it’s a combination of Spiderman meets Batman meets Back to the Future’… We don’t do that here; we want something that you’ve never seen before.”
Zelnick pointed out that the most significant successes across various media have been “unexpected.” He believes that generative AI lacks the capability to produce a genuine hit since it relies on existing data, which is inherently retrospective. According to him, “This is why I’m not worried about AI creating hits, because it’s built on data that already exists. It’s backward-looking. Big hits are forward-looking and therefore need to be created out of thin air. Being the most creative means not just thinking outside the box; it means there is no box.”
Additionally, Zelnick elaborated on AI in the book, asserting that those who believe they can simply declare, “Create the next GTA 6,” are gravely mistaken.