"I don't think it will slow us down any because… we're delivering experiences that people want"
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GTA 6 is finally coming out in a few short months, but it's also dropping into an environment where console prices are higher than ever. Rockstar Games' parent company Take-Two says the ever ballooning costs aren't good for anyone, though they won't exactly hurt the company, either.
"Look, the rising cost of hardware is not a good thing, and we wouldn't argue that it is," Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says in a recent investor's call. The AI-fuelled memory crisis has sent hardware costs into a frenzy across multiple industries, video games included, with PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo all upping their prices this year. It shouldn't faze Take-Two much, apparently.
"I don't think it will slow us down any because, you know… we believe we're delivering experiences that people want. However, a lower price point for hardware would be a good thing because there'd be more hardware in people's hands. So I cannot argue this is a positive, but equally we don't see it as a headwind either," Zelnick explains.
Going forward, Take-Two's betting on the world moving further into the kind of open ecosystems that PC gaming offers, rather than consoles, which have traditionally been closed systems strictly controlled by their manufacturers.
"You know, 20 years ago when we showed up here at Take-Two for a console release that was available on PC at launch, PC would represent 1-to-2% of the overall sales." Nowadays, PC sales can account for 40-50% of a multiplatform Take-Two game, "and I believe that's going to grow… they work great as game machines, and I think that will continue," Zelnick continues.
And should consoles price themselves into obscurity, Zelnick reckons we'll all be streaming our games in a couple years anyway.
With GTA 6 digital only, Take-Two boss says discs "don't really make sense" – "if you're already connected, who cares if you download digitally?"
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.
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