Leading up to the Netflix timed-exclusive extended look at Grand Theft Auto 6, the CEO of Rockstar Games’ parent company, Take-Two Interactive – Strauss Zelnick – has said that there are no plans to be acquired by the streaming giant. In an interview with CNBC, Zelnick spoke about the upcoming showcase, and confirmed that “a bunch of deals” had been signed with Netflix so far, leading to a strong partnership.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that their goal is to have as many subscribers as they can, and they want to deliver the best entertainment to those subscribers, so it stands to reason that they would make their way into the [gaming] business.”
When asked by host Andrew Ross Sorkin about whether Netflix had made any offers to buy Take-Two Interactive in its attempts to further spread out into the gaming business, Zelnick noted that Netflix isn’t quite a company known for making many grand acquisitions, and has instead preferred organic growth.
“So, you’ll have to ask [co-CEOs] Ted [Sarandos] and Greg [Peters], not me, about where they want to go with that. I think historically Netflix has not made big acquisitions. They’ve grown organically; they’ve done a great job at it. As far as us, I don’t know. I think we’re very proud of the way we built this company independently. We’re now the largest pure play that’s public in the space worldwide.”
“We expect to have over $8 billion in revenue this year. We generate profits year in, year out. I don’t mean to imply that that’s easy or even predictable. We have to get up every morning and do it. But I think if anyone deserves to be an independent company, we do.”
In another recent interview, Zelnick had also spoken about how the Grand Theft Auto 6 Extended Look exclusive to Netflix is going to be “one of the hors d’oeuvres” part of the game’s overall marketing plans leading up to its November 19th release. “There’s appetizers, main course, and dessert to follow.” He went on to call Netflix “a great marketing partner for us” while also praising the company as a distribution partner since Rockstar has previously worked with the streaming giant to release its older GTA games on mobile platforms.
Grand Theft Auto 6’s Extended Look showcase is going to make its Netflix debut on August 27th at 3 PM ET, and will then make its way to the larger public through a YouTube video slated for 9 PM ET on the same day. The title is being developed for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and as of yet, no plans for a PC version have been confirmed.
Zelnick has gone on to discuss the pre-order response for Grand Theft Auto 6, and while he didn’t provide any solid numbers, he noted that “Nobody’s ever seen anything like this before, at Take-Two or in the industry.” Despite this, however, Zelnick doesn’t want to celebrate too early, since “we haven’t sold one unit yet”, and pre-orders can be cancelled.
