Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick: It’s ‘laughable’ to think AI tools could create AAA games like Grand Theft Auto

Take-Two Interactive’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, finds it “laughable” to think that AI solutions like Google’s Project Genie could enable developers to create enjoyable and engaging AAA titles with just a single prompt. He insists that AI tools can’t hold a candle to AAA hits like the Grand Theft Auto series, “even the littlest bit.”

Zelnick recently sat down for an interview with The Game Business and discussed the growing buzz around Google’s experimental AI prototype, which allows users to create user-generated worlds in real time using DeepMind’s Genie 3 world model. For now, it remains a research project focused on creating explorable, interactive worlds rather than standalone games. Yet it has still stirred concern within the video game industry.

He explained, “The notion that somehow new tools would allow an individual to push a button and generate a hit and bring it to many millions of consumers around the world is a laughable notion. It’s just never been the case with entertainment.”

He contrasted this with how AI-generated music is being produced these days. Prompt-based music tools allow users to create new tracks but often lack staying power.

Zelnick continued, “Right now, there are programs that allow you to put out a prompt and get a professionally recorded song spit back out at you. It sounds like a song, but I defy you to listen to it more than once. It’s great to send as a greeting card to your partner on their birthday, but that’s about it.”

When Google rolled out Project Genie, several video game companies’ shares took a hit, with Take-Two dropping by 8%, Roblox by 13%, and Unity seeing a steeper dip of more than 24% in the following days.

Zelnick was quite surprised by how the market and investors reacted, saying, “I was kind of stunned by the market’s reaction, because its reaction was somehow seeing it as a threat to what we do, when it’s quite obvious that creation tools are beneficial for our industry.”

He believes AI solutions are helpful tools for developers and creators, accelerating their workflows and allowing them to spend more time on the creative aspects of game development.

However, he pointed out that there are already many practical technical solutions for creating games, resulting in thousands of releases every year, as indie developers and ambitious AAA studios continue to find success in the video game industry.

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