GTA 5 is Coming, But Why Is It Taking So Long? Take Two Explains

Gamers hungry for a new Grand Theft Auto title typically have to wait for years between releases, and for good reason: Take Two and Rockstar believe that releasing a new GTA every year, or even every two years would degrade the value of the series. It goes without saying that the series has become something of an event—one much larger than either Halo or Call of Duty.

Speaking during the Wedbush Transformational Technologies Conference this week, Take Two COO Karl Slatoff explained that treating the game like an annual sports title would hurt the game and dampen player expectations.

"Often times people ask us 'Why don't you come out with Grand Theft Auto every two years?' To us, that doesn't make sense, because Grand Theft Auto, every single time it comes out, is a brand new experience. You can't possibly do that in two years. And if we did that, our product would fatigue and the franchise would degrade from a value perspective," said Slatoff (via GameSpot).

"We could easily have churned out a new version year after year without really progressing as a franchise, but if we did that, eventually the fans would lose interest," he said.

The company typically works on releasing a new game in a different franchise every year. Last year saw the release of Max Payne 3, while LA Noire and Red Dead Redemption held onto the charts in previous years after the release of GTA 4.

The latest title in the series, Grand Theft Auto 5, is scheduled for release this September on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.