The rumor mill surrounding GTA 6's release has spun furiously for what feels like forever. But finally, it seems like we're a step closer to knowing when the much-anticipated title will drop, thanks to some enlightening comments from Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two Interactive.

While many gamers have been keeping their ears close to the ground for any hints of a release date, it was a coup when Zelnick gave away tantalizing hints in a recent interview with CNBC. Let's parse through his words and understand what we might expect.

The most significant part of Zelnick's revelation is his connection between the "very robust pipeline of titles" as well as the expectations for net bookings in fiscal 2025. The elusive CEO insinuated that the future looked exceptionally bright for Take-Two, with hopes to generate approximately $8 billion in that time frame. And as anyone familiar with the gaming industry will tell you, there's no bigger cash cow for Take-Two than GTA.

In fact, his comments about the forthcoming game, while calculated and cautious, seemed to indicate a 2024 or 2025 release for GTA 6. This sentiment, interestingly, aligns with previous reports by known industry journalist, Jason Schreier. But Zelnick wasn't the only one dropping bread crumbs.

It doesn't take much sleuthing to find out why Zelnick is so confident about Take-Two's bookings in the next fiscal year and why many believe that he all but revealed GTA 6's release window.

The interview, for example, is a well-disguised confirmation of GTA 6 releasing anytime between April 2024 and March 2025. The eloquently put corporate-speak was a clever dance between transparency and secrecy. 

What's even more amazing is Zelnick's mention of "titles coming from all labels". Although GTA 6, which has reportedly cost Take-Two more than a billion but is expected to make it up within days of launching, is the big ticket item, Take-Two owns plenty of subsidiaries outside of Rockstar that are responsible for other top-billing titles. Case in point, Judas, which got an official trailer at The Game Awards last year, could be released by then, staggered with the next BioShock game. When you add these titles to a pile of other annual fixtures like WWE 2K, NBA 2K, and so much more, and it's easy to see why the net bookings of Take-Two will be a record high less than two years from.

Ultimately, Zelnick's latest statement is the least vague that he has been about Grand Theft Auto 6's release date. In fact, it's the first time he has mentioned GTA 6 and a fiscal year in the same sentence.

If this isn't telling of GTA 6's potential release window, we don't know what is.

Of course, the actual release date of GTA 6 remains up for debate, and we'll have to wait for Rockstar for actual info.

Let's just hope this comes sooner rather than later, or else, we might see the now-infamous Grand Theft Auto guy crash another event. Again.