- Strauss Zelnick dismisses concerns about GTA 6 inciting violence
- He argues entertainment reflects behavior, not creates it
- Violent movies and TV shows face less criticism than video games
When it is about GTA games, the debate regarding violence concerns arrives automatically. With every GTA release the pertinent discussions start to emerge, but to everyone’s surprise Strauss Zelnick doesn’t have same perspective and he has clearly stated that—he’s not concerned.
GTA & Violence: A Never-Ending Debate
It is not unknown that Grand Theft Auto titles include weapons, portrayal of violence, and unethical behaviour that can influence players, especially youngsters.
This controversy has been surrounding these games since decades, in early 90’s, games like Night Trap, Death Race and Mortal Kombat have been criticized for having aggressive and savage content.
In 2003 Rockstar released Manhunt which also received backlash for violent graphical content, similarly Hatred (2003) faced the same remarks. There is a history of such games and community has always been vocal about their concerns regarding these and as critics claimed that titles like these induce harmful behaviour among the individuals.
However, the certain claims got debunked with the arrival of U.S. Supreme Court’s 2011 ruling which protects the violent games under the free speech law. Now when GTA 6 is all set to release in fall 2025, critics are back in business with their claims and arguments going against the Rockstar’s most anticipated title.
Strauss Zelnick’s Bold Take on Gaming & Behavior
However, Take-Two Interactive CEO, Strauss Zelnick disagrees with them. During an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box (via Videogamer.com) , Zelnick addressed concerns about GTA 6’s potential impact on players.
He was questioned about violent games impact on the real world, upon which he said:
“To be clear: entertainment doesn’t create behaviour, entertainment reflects behaviour,“Entertainment gives people an opportunity to release feelings, engage in feelings, entertainment tells stories. The notion [that] entertainment creating behaviour has been tested and disproved over and over again.”
Zelnick also brought attention to the discrimination when it comes to question the games that include brutal content, he said that violent TV shows and movies don’t face the same negative remarks despite of the fact they are more realistic. He stated:
“When you watch TV and movies from any time [period] they’re very realistic looking so I’m not worried about photorealistic video games,”
The creators of Grand Theft Auto games have got to deal these legal situations and backlash in the past as well, still all the GTA series has thrived and now expectations are that the upcoming instalment is going to rule the gaming industry same as of GTA 5, became one of the best-selling games of all time.
