Zelnick: Tentpole game franchises ‘shouldn’t be annualised’

Tentpole game franchises should not get annual releases, says Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

A number of the top triple-A franchises in games receive the yearly release treatment, including the likes of Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty. Take-Two has refrained from following the same model itself however with the likes of Grand Theft Auto, Civilization and Borderlands.

During an earnings call, as reported by Game Informer, Zelnick said it is valuable for publishers to build anticipation for big games, while also giving developers time to make higher quality titles.

“I don’t think we think about pacing in a traditional way,” he said. “We have said that we think big tentpole releases should not be annualised except for sports titles.”

He added: “We think it’s valuable to build anticipation and because it takes some time to make the highest quality products in the business. We bring the titles to market when they are ready to be marketed.”

For the three months ending December 31st, Take-Two reported GAAP net revenue of $531.1m, down from the $1.86bn made during the same period the year prior. It should be noted however that previous financials were buoyed by sales of GTA V and money brought in from GTA Online. Total GAAP net income for the last quarter was $40.1m.