Take-Two Publisher: “We Can Do More” with Microtransactions

A controversial topic for many gamers is that of microtransactions. Many publishers abuse the advent of DLC and microtransactions by nickel and diming every bit of additional content instead of including it in their games as unlockables. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick weighed in on the topic.

According to Zelnick, Take-Two doesn't rely heavily on microtransactions when compared to other publishers, and while they see the opportunity, it's not their intent to flood their titles with 99 cent purchases.

“You can’t give stuff away for free in perpetuity; there’s no business model in that,” he said at Cowen & Company media conference. "But we’re not trying to optimise the monetisation of everything we do to the nth degree. My concern is, if you do that, the consumer knows. They might not even know that they know, but they feel it.”

Take-Two is the publisher of GTA 5 and GTA Online, and as may be obvious, the first title sold very successfully with 88 million copies sold. GTA Online continues to be a big digital seller as well. All content for GTA Online releases for free, but optional Shark Cards are available for real money to buy items and vehicles if working for in-game currency isn't something a user wants to do.

“There is wood to chop because I think we can do more, and we can do more without interfering with our strategy of being the most creative and our ethical approach, which is delighting consumers. We’re not going to grab the last nickel,” he said.

Rockstar, published by Take-Two, is also planning to release Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018, as we recently learned, and Take-Two's philosophy on microtransactions will most likely apply to the new title.

At the same conference, Zelnick also expressed his thoughts on virtual reality and why it won't rock the industry as much as many would like.