Take-Two won’t put new releases on Xbox Game Pass because its decisions are “rational”

We’ve not got long until we can start unlocking the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 achievements — which might have leaked early — when the shooter becomes the first game Activision game to launch into Xbox Game Pass. Looking at Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick’s comments on Xbox Game Pass, it doesn’t sound like the exec has been convinced to launch the likes of GTA 6 into a subscription service.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick comments on subscription services like Game Pass

Microsoft has been pushing Xbox Game Pass hard in recent years, launching all of its first-party games into the service, as well as paying to get many third-party developers and publishers to do the same with select titles. Following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year, Microsoft will launch this year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 into the service with the hope that it will generate more Xbox Game Pass subscribers.

In a recent interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked if he thinks Black Ops 6’s arrival in Game Pass would change consumer habits. “I think that offering a frontline title with a premium price in a subscription service, day and date, will push consumers to that subscription service for at least a period of time,” Zelnick said.

Take-Two has dropped older titles into Game Pass before, such as GTA 5 and Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, but it doesn’t sound like we’ll be seeing any day-one arrivals anytime soon, or ever. When discussing whether Microsoft’s decision to drop a high-profile game like Black Ops 6 into Game Pass on day one would change Take-Two’s mind, Zelnick said, “No, it won’t affect our decisions, because our decisions are rational.”

While it looks like we won’t be seeing it launch into Game Pass, Take-Two has confirmed that GTA 6 is still down for a 2025 launch.