Abstract:
Piracy of movies, TV series and even video games has been a problem for a long time. Faced with a huge work like "GTA6", it is certain that pirates will do their best to get the pirated game up and running as soon as possible. Given that "GTA6" will only be available on console platforms when it is released, and Sony is actively pushing security updates for PS5 to prevent this from happening, it will be much more difficult for pirates to get their hands on it.
Having said that, Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of "GTA 6", does know that this situation may happen. In fact, the company even anticipated this to some extent.
In a video interview with the Wall Street Journal about "GTA 6", the interviewer talked about the issue of piracy and asked: "What I would say about piracy is that video games used to be a very, very difficult area to pirate. But now you're starting to see - I think just last week, someone used AI tools to somehow remaster some PS4 games and put them on Roblox. How concerned are you about that? How do you think about it?"
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick doesn’t mince words. He admitted that piracy is a "fact of life" and pointed out that it has always been an issue faced by all entertainment media, including movies, music and, of course, games.
"Even though I'm a very laid-back person, I've always been worried about everything," Zelnick said. "Listen, you know, piracy is a fact of life, and I've worked in every type of entertainment business. Working in the film industry, we reckon, At any given time, about 10 to 20 percent of the business was affected by piracy. I was in the record business from 1994 to 2000, and by about 2005, I think 80 percent of the content on the market was pirated. So, as you said, piracy is part of the reality of the entertainment industry. Piracy is not a particularly serious problem in the interactive entertainment field, but it is not completely non-existent. If it does become a problem, we will deal with it like every other enterprise, which is through legal means, right? There will also be technical means. But I think it is safe to say that piracy will be an issue for our business in the future. ”
The Take-Two chief then added: "We just have to be wary of it. Now, it's a little more complicated because all of our games - you know, literally all of them - have to be connected to our servers to have a good experience. So, what do you do with piracy? Are you really going to build a server that's good enough to compete with us? Is that really going to make for a good experience? It's not going to be a great experience, but it's not completely inoperable, right?"
I think Zelnick understands that when GTA 6 finally comes to PC, it will be much harder to fight piracy because the platform is more open. While the game has yet to be confirmed for a PC version, its arrival on the platform is almost a sure thing. There are rumors that the release window for the PC version of "GTA6" is the first quarter of 2027.
If Rockstar plans to continue to launch seasonal events and other content in "GTA6", such as filling the streets and buildings of Leonidas with festive decorations during Christmas, then this may be able to curb piracy to a certain extent, because the game needs to connect to Rockstar's servers to obtain additional adjustments and content.
After the release of "GTA6", is it possible for us to use the PS5 homebrew software ecosystem to play it on PC? I will not claim that this situation will never happen, but it is certain that Sony and Rockstar will do their best to prevent it.
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