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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land Juicy stuff! Investor site Market Rap has gone all-out on Strauss Zelnick, boss of Take-Two, accusing him of lying, irresponsible leadership and pocketing extra cash while at the same time overseeing a decline in the company’s share prices.
Earlier this year, Electronic Arts were mad for Take-Two. Mad. Looked like a takeover was inevitable. Yet we enter 2009 with Take-Two an independent company. How the hell did that happen?
Take-Two’s financial results last quarter weren’t the greatest. Sure, sales were up, but overall, money was down, and in business terms, money is what counts. Which explains why shareholders gave Take-Two a belting today.
During today’s talk at the BMO Capital Market’s conference, Take-Two head honcho Strauss Zelnick seemed very up on the idea of downloadable content, micro-transactions and even… subscriptions.
Strauss Zelnick, executive chairman of the board of directors at Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive, is in good shape. Good enough shape to be on the cover of Men’s Fitness magazine, anyway, as his ripped forearms and healthy pecs grace the cover of the November issue.
Never let it be said Take-Two aren’t focused on quality. They don’t have the packed release schedule of companies like EA or Activision, but pound-for-pound, their games are amongst the best-regarded in the business. A strategy chairman Strauss Zelnick is very keen on, telling VentureBeat that quality will always win out over quantity:
In periods of high growth, like where we are now, B titles and C titles can do OK. But as soon as you get to the point where the platform penetration has reached its asymptote, then quality reins supreme. We think that if you focus on quality all along, regardless of where the market peak is, you will do better.
Explaining, perhaps, why T2′s Wii catalogue isn’t quite as robust as some other publisher’s.
E3 perspective: Q&A with Chairman Strauss Zelnick on the future of Take-Two Interactive [VentureBeat]
Speaking at the Piper Jaffray Consumer Conference, the square-Jawed and wonderfully-named Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick let rip on EA Sports, choosing his fight, and his words, super-carefully:
When we go head-to-head with ‘Brand X’ we out-rate them significantly…We outsell them when we go head-to-head. It’s sort of an unheralded achievement. This is a tough business.
On one hand, he’s right! 2K’s basketball and hockey games are normally top-shelf, and they’ve got baseball to themselves. But the “head-to-head” bit…yeah, it’s dancing around that elephant in the room. 2K don’t have an NFL game in the US. They don’t have a football game in Europe/Asia. That’s like saying my 92 Corolla can take on a Ferrari head-to-head, so long as we’re going off the number of wheels and doors and not, you know. Racing.
2K Sports unheralded against EA Sports, says Zelnick [GI.biz]
Would Take-Two ever consider setting Rockstar loose on the music game genre? Last night, during Take-Two’s Q1 financial results call, Board chairman Strauss Zelnick addressed an analyst who asked exactly that, “given Rockstar’s nature”. I guess he meant, “as rockstars”?
Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two Interactive Chairman, may have enviable cheekbones and impressive compensation, but what he does not have is a grasp on the software issues surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV. With Xbox 360s and PlayStation 3s locking up during GTA IV play sessions, a twelve step “fix” from Rockstar Games support and a host of anecdotal solutions that aren’t yet a cure-all, you might wonder where Strauss has been this past week.
Take-Two Interactive had plenty to sing about today. There was the official word on BioShock 2, even more Carnival Games for little girls and boys to enjoy and a reaffirmation of Grand Theft Auto IV‘s worldwide ship date of April 29. Yay! Sure, there were some delays, but all in all, not bad. The best news? The company managed to only lose 38 million US bucks in its first fiscal quarter of 2008! That’s better than the Take-Two gang had expected, with Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two, saying he was “pleased”. This is how you lose money, people—with a faint hint of a smile on your face.
