With the unparalleled success of “Grand Theft Auto V,” one might think that Take-Two would want to increase the number of “GTA” games it releases.
When it was released last year, “GTA V” became the fastest-selling game in history. However, CEO Strauss Zelnick said in an interview this week that putting out more “GTA” games is not apart of Take-Two’s strategy.
Zelnick said that it isn’t important to saturate the games market to make sure that “GTA” is a permanent franchise. And with “GTA Online,” there isn’t really any need to produce more titles in the near future, he told MCV UK.
“It is great that consumers anticipate our titles, like they anticipate the next James Bond film. Our goal is to create permanent franchises,” he said. “A few years ago, we’d launch a title, it would be sold physically, then we would sell catalogue versions of it. Today we launch a title, and often – if not always – put out DLC. We’ve talked about recurrent consumer spending, where we have offerings where fans can engage and spend money on an on-going basis.”
He added: “With GTA V, we have sold 32.5m units in to date, which is extraordinary. 70 per cent of people that have played GTA V while online have played GTA Online, which is a free-to-play experience. And recurrent consumer spending, which includes GTA Online revenue, represented nearly half of our digitally delivered revenue in the quarter. So people are voting that they want to stay engaged and they are voting with their wallets.”
Zelnick a week ago made comments on rumors talking about releasing “GTA V” for other platforms, including the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Currently, the game is available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
As of Wednesday, more than 673,000 people have signed a Change.org petition to bring the game to the PC. The petition claims that to not bring it to the PC “is a mistake.”
Zelnick said that “GTA V” will go to other platform’s if there’s a demand.
“If that is where consumers are, absolutely [we'll release our game on that],” he told MCV website in reference to launching “GTA V” on other platforms. “But we wouldn’t drive them there, we would just be there if they are there. That is why we have a companion app for our basketball title, NBA 2K Everywhere. It is wherever consumers want to be,” he told MCV.
He added: “We are not in the hardware business, we don’t have any dog in that hut, we just want to be where the consumer is.”
There’s been a spate of rumors in recent days about the existence of a PC version, with websites publishing screenshots and URLs from Amazon and other retailers. But Rockstar hasn’t confirmed any PC version.
Weeks ago, PC Gamer reported on the existence of a 150-page-long “GTA V” bug log that suggests there’s a PC version in the works with DirectX 11 effects.
More than 170 references to PC development bugs were made in the log, PC Gamer said.
