Take-Two CEO is Skeptical on Releasing Games Day One on Subscription Services - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 June 2022 / 4,436 Views
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick in an interview with GamesIndustry says he has been skeptical when it comes to releasing AAA games on subscription services on day one.
"We've supported various subscription services and we're happy to do so," said Zelnick. "Our skepticism has been around making frontline console products available day and date with subscription. That doesn't make any sense to us because, economically speaking, we don't think consumers are prepared to pay for that. Why would they? And we can't afford to turn our business upside down in a way that doesn’t make sense economically.
"So there always has to be an intersection between what the consumer wants and what the publisher is able to do, and it doesn't make sense to do that for frontline properties in our opinion. I think Sony minimally agrees with us, because they've said so.
"It can be potentially great for catalogue properties. Those are properties that have been in the market for a while. If their price has been reduced it can make economic sense to offer those on a subscription basis."
He does remain open to one day add games to subscription services at launch as things are always changing in the gaming industry.
"This company does not operate based on one person's opinions, including mine, and when it makes sense we'll support subscription services," he said.
"And if that's where the consumer wants to be, that's where we'll be. It's one of the terrifying things about working in video games. That we're such on the cutting edge of everything that any prediction will inevitably make someone look foolish."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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You are not alone.
Definitely not the model for a company that makes billions of their games
I love his final comment on this and agree 100%
How many times does this dude need to say this?
I mean, GTA V made over a billion dollars in 3 days of release and RDR2 made over $700 million within 3 days. So I don't blame them at all for no day one subscription service releases. The amount of money a service holder would have to pay Take-Two for that kind of deal would be astronomical!
He just wants to keep milking his fans with games like gta v. He's losing out on all the extra millions
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