Strauss Zelnick says Take-Two is "utterly focused on enhancing our technical defenses and enhancing our legal activities" as AI tools make it easier to clone and port games. The fear is unofficial GTA 6 on PC soon after launch, and the security of the PS5 sits right in the middle of it.
GTA 6 isn’t even out yet, and Take-Two is already bracing for people to rip it apart with AI and run it on PC.
Asked about AI-assisted reverse engineering during an investor Q&A after Take-Two’s November 9 earnings, attended by IGN, CEO Strauss Zelnick didn’t brush it off. “This business has been largely immune to piracy concerns forever because of file sizes, complexity of piracy, being connected to servers and the like,” he said. “That said, it’s going to become more of a challenge, as you said, and we’re aware of that. So we are utterly focused on enhancing our technical defenses and enhancing our legal activities appropriately.” He added that “this is likely to invade our business to a greater or lesser extent,” but said “I think it will be manageable and we are focused on it.”
That’s a CEO telling investors, ten days before the biggest launch in years, that the lawyers are ready.
Why this is suddenly a thing
AI tools have made game cloning go viral. IGN points to clips of games running inside X, mashups like Minecraft crashed into Elden Ring, and Rockstar’s own GTA 5 briefly running in a browser last month before it was pulled offline. Anthropic has since updated Claude to make it harder to generate video game clones. The bigger fear now is an unofficial GTA 6 showing up on PC not long after it lands on consoles on November 19.
In a separate one-on-one, IGN asked Zelnick straight up whether that’s a threat. He said it’s not a financial one but “a creative matter,” and that “we protect our intellectual property vigilantly.” His bet is that fans want the real thing: “I do think that pretty much everyone wants the Rockstar experience as Rockstar intended.” He also took a shot at AI companies, saying that if you’re in the intellectual property business, “it seems ironic on the one hand to stomp on someone else’s IP and hope that yours is protected.”
Former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij has said Rockstar may want to get GTA 6 onto PC as soon as possible because of the flood of AI-made clones and ports, per IGN’s sister site RPS.
The PS5 problem
Here’s the part Sony won’t love. IGN says much of this concern ties back to the security of the PS5, describing Sony as “seemingly engaged in a game of Whac-a-Mole” with hackers trying to jailbreak the latest firmware before GTA 6 arrives. In late September, a jailbreak covering every PS5 on firmware 7.00 to 13.60, PS5 Pro included, rocked the homebrew scene. Some games then started requiring firmware 14.00 to download updates, which kicked off a fresh push for a newer jailbreak. Some believe GTA 6 will need at least 14.20 or 14.22, and Sony may push more security updates before launch.
IGN lays out the risk plainly: if a jailbreak lands for whatever firmware GTA 6 needs, the game could be pirated on PS5 and then make its way to PC. IGN calls it “something of an existential crisis for the PlayStation manufacturer, which publishers and developers rely upon for the security of their PlayStation releases.”
What it means for Xbox and PC players
For Xbox players, nothing changes: GTA 6 lands on Xbox Series X|S on November 19, preload is live right now, and you’re getting the game the way Rockstar built it. The security spotlight in this story is on PlayStation’s firmware fight, not Xbox.
For PC players, this is the real takeaway. Take-Two still won’t talk about a PC version, but the pressure to ship an official one keeps stacking up. Every viral AI clone, every PS5 jailbreak headline, and every unofficial port rumor makes the case louder: the best defense against a sketchy bootleg is a real PC release with every feature intact. Zelnick himself says people want the game “as Rockstar intended.” PC players agree. So give it to them, and give it to them sooner.
Image: Rockstar Games
Sources
- IGN: Take-Two ‘Enhancing’ Technical Defenses and Legal Activities to Combat GTA 6 AI Reverse-Engineering Threat
- The GTA 6 News: GTA 6 Piracy Is a Fact of Life Says Take Two CEO Zelnick
- X news: Take-Two Bolsters Defenses Against GTA VI PC Piracy and AI Ports
AI ports are the threat. What should Rockstar do about GTA 6 on PC?
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