The CEO of Rockstar Games’ parent company, Take-Two, was quizzed recently about his feelings on everyone’s least favourite word at the moment: tariffs.
Good news: his outlook sounds like a positive one, at least where Grand Theft Auto VI is concerned.
Bad news: you now have to read an article about tariffs to understand why.
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If you’re sick of hearing about tariffs and game prices going up all the time, I just want to state for the record that I’m right there with you.
Unfortunately, it’s all extremely relevant to our favourite hobby at the moment, so just lock in for two minutes and let me tell you some good news.
Nobody really knows what’s going on at the moment. Not to get political on you for a second, but that’s mostly due to the fact that the Trump administration keeps changing its mind in regards to how their recently announced tariffs are actually going to work.
All this is compounded by the rumours that, much like some of the Nintendo Switch 2’s first-party games, Grand Theft Auto VI is going to retail for more than $70 at launch.
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Thankfully, Games Industry's Rachel Weber directly asked Take-Two’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, how he feels about the potential impact that tariffs will have on the publisher’s games.
“Well, our industry association, the ESA, has been weighing in and in general, and I think most economists would agree, a world without tariffs is a better place,” Zelnick replied.
“I think like everyone else in business I'm somewhat concerned about the possibility of trade wars, but I'm encouraged that we seem to be avoiding those with Mexico and Canada through discussion and negotiation and I'm cautiously optimistic that that will lead to a good result.”
On one hand, there’s not really much Zelnick can actually do about tariffs. He’s a rich dude, but he’s not in the White House.
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On the other hand, his comment about being in contact with the ESA (The Entertainment Software Association) does sound like a positive one.
For instance, it seems as if the tech giant Apple has had something to do with the Trump administration’s 180 on smartphone tariffs, so there’s always the chance that someone with a bit of sense at the ESA could get through to them too and politely explain that Grand Theft Auto VI is set to make twenty trillion dollars when it drops.
Only time will tell as to how this all plays out, but at least it's a step in the right direction.
Topics: GTA 6, GTA, Rockstar Games, Take-Two, Grand Theft Auto