While Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick is as down on rising hardware prices as everyone else, he recently noted that it wouldn’t have much effect on the publisher. However, he also believes that streaming could be a viable alternative in three years.
“With the advent of streaming – which we really do believe is around the corner in terms of having something that’s low latency, and really works well for consumers – machines that weren’t game machines before will become game machines. So, without regard to what happens in the console business, which is of consequence to us, of course, we see the overall install base as a practical matter growing materially,” he told investors in a recent call (transcript via Yahoo! Finance).
“And if you believe in streaming, to be clear, we really do, and I’m happy to put a timeline on it. I think we’ll be in commercial streaming mode in three years, and by commercial I mean low latency. That can 10x the effective install base.”
Of course, in keeping with his philosophy of not celebrating victory before it’s attained, Zelnick included a caveat. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to 10x our revenue, and we wouldn’t project that we would, because obviously your avid consumers already have access to video game machines. But I do think it creates great opportunity for titles that are broadly desirable even outside of core markets, and we do have titles like that, obviously.”
While Grand Theft Auto 6 will end up a massive success even without streaming availability, it could lead to a resurgence for other IPs. Take-Two may not see much demand for a new XCOM title, but it could find a new audience if it’s more widely accessible.
Physical discs may go extinct at a much faster rate. However, Zelnick doesn’t really believe they make much sense for consumers currently (citing the majority of game sales being digital), so it’s probably a moot point. If nothing else, it explains why Grand Theft Auto 6 won’t have a disc with its physical version, whether at launch or anywhere down the line.
Never say never, though, so stay tuned for updates. Grand Theft Auto 6 launches on November 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PS5. Rockstar is set to debut an Extended Look on, of all things, Netflix on August 27th. It will become available on YouTube several hours later, but suffice to say that the strategy is intriguing. Head here for our thoughts on it.
