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Take-Two is hoping that one day it's known more for its high-production, big-budget titles and less about its legendary game delays and long development cycles. The company has recently been aiming to streamline production without sacrificing quality.
Take-Two Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick spoke at the UBS Annual Global Media and Communications Conference in New York City today and explained why Take-Two doesn't follow Activision in releasing major, annualized titles such as Call of Duty.
"I think we've certainly done a better job on bringing some titles out in a somewhat quicker lifecycle," Zelnick explained. "For example, with BioShock 2, that came out in roughly two years and we've announced that BioShock Infinite is coming in calendar 2012."
With the exception of its sports titles, Take-Two has no interests in bringing out annual iterations of its major franchises every year. Zelnick says he feels consumers can get burned out after awhile, which ultimately lowers the value of the franchise.
"First, we endeavor to make the very best and highest rated titles in the business, and we think we achieve not only our highest sales by doing that, but we improve the value of the franchise overall," Zelnick stated.
"My belief is that even a very, very high quality, annualized franchise runs the risk of burning customers out. 'I've seen that five years in a row, I've had enough,'" he said. "If we had to use a film analogy, we'd like to be James Bond. You may have to wait a few years in between, but you'll always want to see it."
"I think that's a more valuable approach and we've proven that for Take-Two that works."
Still, Take-Two still has plenty of work to do. Both L.A. Noire and Max Payne 3 have seen numerous delays and have been in development for a notably long time.
"We've said repeatedly execution needs to get better at the company. That means aspire to be on time and not have slippage. We aspire to be on a tighter schedule," Zelnick explained.
"We've had to make certain concessions to the intensity of the creative process. So there's an execution issue, which is a reflection of the fact this is incredibly hard to do and we want to support our creative teams to do their very best work. At the same time there's a strategy behind it as well and we're trying to optimize between the two."
Take-Two's 2011 title line-up currently includes Spec Ops: The Line, XCOM, L.A. Noire, Top Spin 4, and Duke Nukem Forever.
source
Take-Two Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick spoke at the UBS Annual Global Media and Communications Conference in New York City today and explained why Take-Two doesn't follow Activision in releasing major, annualized titles such as Call of Duty.
"I think we've certainly done a better job on bringing some titles out in a somewhat quicker lifecycle," Zelnick explained. "For example, with BioShock 2, that came out in roughly two years and we've announced that BioShock Infinite is coming in calendar 2012."
With the exception of its sports titles, Take-Two has no interests in bringing out annual iterations of its major franchises every year. Zelnick says he feels consumers can get burned out after awhile, which ultimately lowers the value of the franchise.
"First, we endeavor to make the very best and highest rated titles in the business, and we think we achieve not only our highest sales by doing that, but we improve the value of the franchise overall," Zelnick stated.
"My belief is that even a very, very high quality, annualized franchise runs the risk of burning customers out. 'I've seen that five years in a row, I've had enough,'" he said. "If we had to use a film analogy, we'd like to be James Bond. You may have to wait a few years in between, but you'll always want to see it."
"I think that's a more valuable approach and we've proven that for Take-Two that works."
Still, Take-Two still has plenty of work to do. Both L.A. Noire and Max Payne 3 have seen numerous delays and have been in development for a notably long time.
"We've said repeatedly execution needs to get better at the company. That means aspire to be on time and not have slippage. We aspire to be on a tighter schedule," Zelnick explained.
"We've had to make certain concessions to the intensity of the creative process. So there's an execution issue, which is a reflection of the fact this is incredibly hard to do and we want to support our creative teams to do their very best work. At the same time there's a strategy behind it as well and we're trying to optimize between the two."
Take-Two's 2011 title line-up currently includes Spec Ops: The Line, XCOM, L.A. Noire, Top Spin 4, and Duke Nukem Forever.
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