Take Two Interactive recently held their quarterly investor meeting. In it, they outlined their plans for the future. These plans entail “creating permanent franchises,” according to CEO Strauss Zelnick. Zelnick believes that this long run view for creating and cultivating long-running franchises isn’t one that the entire industry embraces. Zelnick believes that Take Two’s goals are “unique” in the games industry.
During the call, the CEO explained further:
“Our competitors do not see it that way. Our competitors’ view is that our franchise will have a certain life, and at the end of that life, you move onto the next thing, so you better make hay while the sun shines. Our view is the contrary. The best franchises are permanent franchises.”
Zelnick went on to list off some of these permanent franchises and we can only assume that these big names will be around for many years to come. Zelnick pointed to the big ones like Grand Theft Auto, Borderlands, and even Red Dead Redemption as series that will be permanent fixtures out of Take Two.
“Outside our business you can look at James Bond, for example. And it’s been our goal not just to preserve and grow the Grand Theft Auto franchise, but also to build other franchises that we think can be permanent, whether that’s the Red Dead franchise or the Borderlands franchise or the Bioshock franchise or others, Civilization, for example.”
Zelnick didn’t necessarily confirm Red Dead Redemption 2, but he didn’t really need to. We all know it’s coming in the next-generation, we just don’t know when and which arm of Rockstar will be handling the development duties. The company has had their hands full with Grand Theft Auto V, but with this massive title ready to ship in a little over a month, they’ll likely be moving on to their next big project in short order. There have been some rumors as to what this might be. A recent trademark was discovered for Bully, and it could signal a return of the cult classic in the coming years.
