Rockstar Parent Company CEO Says It Won't Settle For 'Simple Ports' Of Older Games

Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Rockstar Games parent company Take-Two Interactive, has discussed the company's approach to remasters, saying that it won't settle for "simple ports" of its older games - including the upcoming version of GTA 5 for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. As transcribed by VGC, Zelnick made the statement during a Morgan Stanley technology conference, when asked about the importance of remasters for Take-Two going forward. “Remastering has always been a part of the strategy. We’ve done differently than the competition – we don’t just port titles over, we actually take the time to do the very best job we can making the title different for the new release, for the new technology that we’re launching it on," Zelnick said. "We improve the technology, we upgrade the visuals, and we make performance enhancements. And that’s why I think our remastered titles typically do so well.” [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2011/10/25/breaking-news-gta-5-announced"] Attention then turned to the forthcoming next-generation port of 2013's GTA V, which was revealed back in June of 2020 and will be available for free at launch on PS5. "I’m confident that Rockstar is going to deliver just a great experience, but you can’t do that if you’re just doing a simple port,” Zelnick said. This suggests that Take-Two and Rockstar aren't interested in simply porting their games to modern consoles without, as Zelnick puts it, "making the title different" in some capacity – which could give us an idea of the company's future remaster plans. When GTA V came to Xbox One, PS4 and PC, the GTA Online player cap was boosted, and a first-person mode was implemented, among other features. In other Rockstar Games news, a recent report suggested that a new GTA is in development, with Rockstar reportedly making changes to fix crunch culture. Take-Two Interactive recently reiterated its plans to release 93 games in five years. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.