Take-Two: Annually Released Titles Hurt Creativity

GTAIV was a hugely successful title both critically and financially, but Take-Two, its publisher, continuously fails to make yearly profits. The LA Times is reporting that Take-Two’s chairman Strauss Zelnick has said that despite this, the company doesn’t want to resort to releasing games annually because he thinks that doing so is ‘œthe enemy of pushing the envelope creatively’.

Zelnick said that in GTA years, Take-Two’s production costs ‘œare fine’, but with non-GTA years it’s ‘œtoo high’ meaning that they often make losses: $138 million on $969 million takings last year.

He continued to say that the company needs to ‘œget bigger’, suggesting that by releasing them in a ‘œmore orderly fashion than [they] have done historically’ they may find more consistent financial success, though potentially placing pressure on developers such as Rockstar who tend to take their time developing titles.

EA is a publisher that releases a lot of annual sports titles and does make a lot of money, but could you argue they stifle creativity? I can understand Zelnick’s objections, but the reality is that Take-Two can’t rely on a single franchise to pull them out of a hole every three years. Activision also maintains a rigid release policy with its Call of Duty titles, which are generally high quality but can feel a little manufactured. Having a GTA game every year would probably result in that same manufactured feel, but while it’s good Zelnick is against it, the company can’t keep losing money.

Zelnick finished by saying that ‘œthe barometer is when we are profitable in a non-GTA year’ and with Take-Two releasing some interesting titles this year, perhaps they can turn a profit without having to venture into the cold, hard streets of Liberty City.

Via: 1Up