Take-Two’s CEO does not believe the Game Pass subscription.
The upcoming premiere of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S overshadowed almost all other events and initiatives in the gaming industry. It’s easy to forget that, according to the manufacturer of one (or two) of these devices, it is not the sale of consoles that should play the first fiddle. For Microsoft, the success of other projects, including Xbox Game Pass, is to be more important. However, not everyone shares the opinion of Phil Spencer. The skeptics include, for example, Strauss Zelnick. The CEO of Take-Two Interactive doubts that the paid subscription model promoted by Microsoft will become the dominant (or even the only) solution on the market. He expressed his opinion during a conference with investors, during which the financial results of the publisher (via PC Gamer) were summarized.
This is not the first time that Strauss Zelnick has been reluctant to mention this type of service. He made a similar statement in the September interview for the Protocol service. Then he emphasized that “some” of the most important Take-Two productions will not be available in subscription, as the reason for citing the relatively low price of the games (he expressed a similar opinion this time). It might have come as a surprise, since Red Dead Redemption 2 was included in the Xbox Game Pass for a while, but we’re guessing Zelnick was talking about introducing items from his catalog to the Game Pass offer on the day of the premiere of these games.
Strauss Zelnick is not entirely convinced of the potential of an Xbox Game Pass-style subscription.
It’s hard to resist the impression that the CEO of Take-Two is rather lonely in his opinion. Publishers such as Ubisoft and Electronic Arts followed Microsoft. The latter has already achieved considerable success, attracting nearly 6.5 million subscribers to its EA Play service. Even Sony, which is far from downplaying the sale of consoles like Phil Spencer, has prepared a competitive offer.
Of course, the sudden interest of publishers is one thing, but the question remains how many of these initiatives will stand the test of time. Maybe that is why Strauss Zelnick emphasizes that the final decision on the future of these services belongs to customers and the company will adapt to their expectations. Hence probably the mention in the latest Take-Two financial report about the publisher’s consideration of the use of this business model. However, if you judge by the success of Xbox Game Pass so far, the players have already made a decision. Another thing is that, according to some, the CEO of Take-Two did not make a mistake about VR and playing in the cloud. Will it be so this time – time will tell.
- Take-Two Interactive official website
