Take-Two Will Not Offer Games In Subscription Service, According To CEO

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Abdullah Amin

At HI Digital I test and write about different hardware configurations to show other PC users what they can expect from their build. My end goal is to educate the masses to make the right decision when they are looking for new PC parts to buy

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Take-Two Interactive released its financial report, which revealed the exact sales figures of Rockstar Games, including the Red Dead Redemption with over 70 million and the Grand Theft Auto franchise with over 385 million units sold. The company also had an earnings call afterward to explain better the sale figures of their IPs and what direction the company is headed for their future games.

At the end of the conference call, the CEO Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, was asked [Transcript] about his opinion on bringing their games to subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus and whether they have any plans to implement a subscription model to their distribution methods.

According to Strauss, the type of games they deliver, GTA Online or Red Dead Online, are more on the interactive side of the entertainment rather than the linear mode of entertainment; for example, games that are more story driven and have an end to them work better with subscription models and he also explains how frequently people play interactive games in a month.

The interactive entertainment business is very different than the linear entertainment business. People consume far fewer hours of interactive entertainment in a given month than they do of linear entertainment.

And within that consumption, there are far fewer titles consumed in interactive entertainment than there are with linear entertainment.

I think the answer is no, to offer frontline titles day and day with titles on a subscription service. I don’t think that ever made sense.

So apparently, Take-Two has no plans to implement a subscription model to their distribution methods and bring their games to services like Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus on Day One.

Strauss further backed his argument by suggesting what works best with services like Xbox Game Pass, a catalog business that includes various games users can consume within a month.

There probably is a subscription business. It’s a catalog business. It’s probably best aimed at very avid consumers because those are the consumers who are interested in playing catalog titles, implying a whole bunch of different titles in a given month.

His argument regarding subscription services is accurate to some extent, as we have seen short story-driven games making huge numbers on their release with the help of subscription services like Xbox Game Pass.

If we consider the most recent examples, A Plague Tale: Requiem, a day-one Game Pass Release, managed to reach 1 million players in just two weeks after its release. A similar effect was seen with the recently globally launched Grounded, which managed to surpass 13 million players in a short span of its release thanks to Xbox Game Pass.

While subscription service works best for short story-driven games that users can consume a lot more of within a month might not have a similar effect to interactive games like GTA Online or Red Dead Online, as implied by Take Two’s CEO.

What are your thoughts about this? Let us know in the comment section below.

Abdullah Amin

[How-To Guides Expert]

Laiba, our tech guru at HI Digital, simplifies and crafts How-To Guides with a Google IT Support Certificate. Beyond tech, she captures the city’s aesthetics through her lens. Join her journey where tech meets creativity!

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