Take-Two explains why GTA doesn’t have more actual franchises

According to VCG, the CEO of Take-Two – Rockstar’s parent company – discussed why GTA is not introducing more collaborations with brands from the real world. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Strauss Zelnick said it was a creative decision prompted by Rockstar.

GTA won’t promote real-life franchises in the game VCG

Previously in December 2020, Rockstar brought 2 real-world fashion brands: Civilist and MISBHV into the GTA Online, as part of the update The Cayo Perico Heist. This partnership allows players to purchase clothing from both brands at retail stores throughout the Los Santos region in GTA Online.

However, the boss of Take-Two recently said that players shouldn’t expect to be able to see real-world franchises appear in the company’s GTA series. “The world of GTA is a fictional world, so to bring real-life brands in, they really have to be iconic and have to fit into that world,” he said. “It was a very creative decision driven by the team at Rockstar. It is not a financial decision. We run all our businesses in the game in an effort to attract consumers, we then realized that the monetization would be handled by the company itself. We will not include a brand in any of our games just for financial reasons.”

Zelnick says other brands like Take-Two’s NBA and PGA series will be able to stand out the brand more naturally than GTA, even with direct advertising if necessary.