Grand Theft Auto VI Could Be Pirated on PlayStation at Launch, But Rockstar’s Owner Isn’t Worried

Grand Theft Auto VI is on its way to becoming one of the most significant and lucrative releases in video game history. However, its upcoming launch faces a persistent industry threat: piracy. It now seems possible that the jailbreak community could run unauthorized copies of the game on PlayStation

Despite these looming concerns, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick remains unfazed while acknowledging that unauthorized distribution remains a serious challenge in the gaming and entertainment industry.

Take-Two Interactive CEO Is Not Worried About GTA VI Piracy

The open-world blockbuster is set to launch globally on November 19, 2026, exclusively for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, which, as new consoles, are historically resilient against piracy thanks to closed hardware architectures and mandatory firmware updates.

However, recent developments in AI-driven tools have accelerated progress within the homebrew and jailbreaking communities, particularly on PS5.

This progress has fueled concerns that GTA VI could face piracy soon after release, or even unauthorized ports to PC and other platforms. While such scenarios would pose major headaches for Sony and Rockstar, Zelnick is not particularly concerned.

Speaking in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, the CEO acknowledged that he worries about everything constantly, despite being a very calm person. Piracy, as it turns out, is just one of many things he thinks about.

Strauss Zelnick explained that piracy is a reality and is present in many sectors of the entertainment industry, including the video game market.

“When I was in the movie business, we figured 10-20% at any given time. In the record business, because I was in the record business from 1994 to 2000, by the mid 2000s, I would argue that 80% of that market was pirated; now that’s way back down again,” he explained.

Zelnick emphasized that GTA VI is inherently less vulnerable than traditional media due to the massive scale and structural complexity of modern game files. Nevertheless, Take-Two is prepared for any disruptions.

“It’s not been a non-issue. And in the event that it turns into an issue, we address it the same way every other business does, which is with legal work, and then with technical work, and we’ll have to do both,” he added.

GTA VI At Risk of Being Pirated on PS5

During the interview, WSJ reporter Jessica Toonkel highlighted recent cases where AI tools allowed users to recreate existing games on platforms like Roblox, illustrating how rapidly piracy methods are evolving.

While Zelnick acknowledges that piracy will be an issue for the industry in the future, he emphasizes that the full GTA VI experience depends heavily on buying the original game. Even if bad actors bypass local checks, replicating online infrastructure is far more challenging:

“Now, it’s a little more complex because for all of our games you have to be connected with our servers to have a good experience. So with piracy are you really going to set up competitive servers? Is it really going to be a good experience? It won’t be a great experience. But it’s not nothing,” he said.

After Sony announced the end of the physical format, the hacker community attempted several different ways to breach PS5 security systems. Users managed to run PS2 and PS3 video games on PlayStation 5, which represents a very significant advancement.

Furthermore, an unauthorized digital store was launched that provided illegal access to over 1,000 video games, situations that the Japanese company has already addressed. In recent weeks, Sony released numerous firmware updates in an attempt to curb the efforts of the jailbreak scene.

This week, PlayStation 5 version 14.22.00.00 was released. Players will probably be forced to download and install this patch to play Grand Theft Auto VI at launch. In addition, more security updates before GTA VI launches are probably coming.

Do you think that GTA VI will be pirated? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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