Today Take-Two chief executive officer Strauss Zelnick asked to comment about the GTA6 and the company’s position on subscription services.
First of all, Zelnick described how disappointing the leak of Grand Theft Auto 6 assets was, but promised it won’t influence development.
With regard to the leak, it was terribly unfortunate and we take these sorts of incidents very seriously indeed. There is no evidence that any material assets were taken, which is a good thing, and certainly the leak won’t have any influence on development or anything of the sort.
It is terribly disappointing and causes us to be ever more vigilant on matters related to cybersecurity.
The executive was also asked a comment on Xbox Gaming head Phil Spencer’s comment about Game Pass potentially reaching saturation on Xbox consoles.
He explained that Take-Two has been “very cooperative” with both Microsoft and Sony on their subscription offers when it actually makes sense for Take-Two itself.
Zelnick reiterated his views that interactive entertainment is very different compared to the linear entertainment business, and he’s still skeptical about subscription services making as much sense for the former as opposed to the latter.
He believes it doesn’t make sense for publishers to offer frontline titles via subscription day and date with their retail release, and added that it’s “becoming obvious” that it doesn’t make sense.
“I don’t think that ever made sense, I still don’t think it makes sense, and I believe it’s now becoming obvious it doesn’t make sense. It’s just a lost opportunity for the publisher”
He concluded by mentioning that for Take-Two the subscription business is for older catalog games and aimed at very avid consumers, but he doesn’t think it can be a mask market service that can supplant interactive entertainment as we know it. Evidence points to the contrary.
If you’d like to learn more about Talke-Two’s financial performance for the latest quarter, you can read our dedicated article.