Publisher Take-Two Interactive has no plans to annualize its Rockstar division’s franchises. At the MKM Partners Investor Day in New York City, CEO Strauss Zelnick said that its better to create demand and anticipation for non-sports titles alongside bringing out the “highest quality of work,” which isn’t possible with annual releases. He believes that there are other ways to generate the kind of revenue that annual releases can bring.
What we would like to do is be able to have enough hit intellectual properties in any given year, whether we have Title A or Title B, is not the issue. We’ll have a handful of really great franchises and new intellectual properties that together really have the economic impact of an annualized business without the detriments of an annualized business.
The “detriments” he’s referring to includes “burning off your intellectual property” and a reduction in quality.
Zelnick further said that none of the Rockstar division’s titles, including Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne, can follow a set schedule due to long development cycles. However, some of Take-Two’s other key franchises are expected to have a more regular release schedule. This is already in practice in case of Borderlands and BioShock (published under the 2K label) but Rockstar’s titles are deliberately spaced out.
Speaking of BioShock, Zelnick said that the series is in the hands of 2K and while there are no announcements to make at the moment, it is “unquestionably a permanent franchise” for Take-Two.
While we’ve already had our Grand Theft Auto fix recently, quite a few fans are eagerly awaiting news of Red Dead Redemption 2. We won’t be too surprised to hear that it’s already in development considering all the reports and rumors, but when do our readers think is a good time for a sequel?
[Source: GameSpot]
