Take-Two boss quits to go travelling

By Robert Purchese Published 29 October, 2010

Seriously.

CEO Ben Feder has quit Take-Two so that he can go travelling around Asia with his family.

Take-Two overlord Strauss Zelnick will temporarily take on the role of CEO while Karl Slatoff - an existing TT exec - is groomed for the part. Slatoff should take over day-to-day running of the company at the start of 2011.

"Now that the Company is in a position of strength and is poised for solid performance in the future, the time is right for me to honour certain commitments that I have made to my family," commented Feder.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (40) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Quint2020 #1 2 years ago

    Fair bloody play, he's got to be absolutely rolling in it anyway.

  • BOBBYLUPO #2 2 years ago

    If only Kotick would do the same.

    Though he's more likely to buy Asia. Then ruin it with yearly updates.

  • callum9999 #3 2 years ago

    Good for him. Travelling is an amazing experience which will no doubt enrich their lives and bring them new perspectives.

    People need to be doing far more of it - particularly the British. Just as we laugh at the amount of American's who don't own a passport - the rest of Europe laughs at us for our lack of experiencing new places and cultures (and no, a fortnight on the beaches in Spain, or knowing an immigrant doesn't count).

  • ecureuil #4 2 years ago

    Fair play to the bloke. Enjoy life.

  • HisDudness #5 2 years ago

    Good on him. That's what I'd do. Though I'd probably buy a big fucking boat and park it in the South Pacific.

    Instead, given my means, I'll do a J and head to the bowling alley. Maybe stop at the In and Out Burger on the way home.

  • thedaveeyres #6 2 years ago

    I guess he's taking 5.

  • scottycam #7 2 years ago

    How is this newsworthy?

    And what's with the 'Seriously' sub heading? Why can't a guy take a break and go on holiday Mr Purchese?

  • Benno #8 2 years ago

    legend

  • Skandalle #9 2 years ago

    Apparently being boss means your not entitled to time with the family...

  • Petulant_Radish #10 2 years ago

    Good on him, family and fun should come before work. Work to live not live to work and all that.

  • darleysam #11 2 years ago

    Good luck to him.

  • coolbritannia #12 2 years ago

    Am I the only one who smelled a rat here? Sounds like a face saving cover story to me...

  • TelexStar #13 2 years ago

    @callum9999 - "People need to be doing far more of it - particularly the British. "

    You say "particularly the British" like we don't do much travelling? With the exception of France and Germany, I'd say we're pretty high up on the list of young people going travelling. From my own experience travelling around SE Asia, New Zealand and South America over a 9 month period, the majority of the travellers we met were either British, French or German.

    I agree though. Fantastic life experience. Good on him!

  • StolenGlory #14 2 years ago

    Good call. Family first always.

  • Antaios #15 2 years ago

    "Though he's more likely to buy Asia. Then ruin it with yearly updates."

    That made my coffee come back through my nose. Brilliant (and sadly, very true). :D

  • jefranklin18 #16 2 years ago

    As someone that took 8 months out to go travelling (Australia back to the UK) in 2006, I would really recommend everyone try do the same. There's nothing to beat the feeling of landing in Saigon with nothing but a hotel booking for a couple of nights and an exit ticket a few weeks later from Hanoi. Fond memories.

    I need to go travelling again...

  • BabyJesus #17 2 years ago

    Why not, if I had the dosh I'd do the same.

  • callum9999 #18 2 years ago

    TelexStar - I may have overblown it a bit but I doubt Britain is that high up in the list. British people were certainly in the minority in my experience, and thats the impression I got from speaking to loads of other Europeans - with many of them asking me why British people don't travel very much. And only around 1-2% of people in my year at school went travelling afterwards.

  • SAMagic #19 2 years ago

    @callum9999 : That's why we don't rely on anecdotes - someone should find some data or surveys about which nationalities most go abroad.

  • MerricK #20 2 years ago

    he aint a true gamer.

    any true gamer would that is CEO of a games company would make a game based on traveling around asia and play it from the comfort of his living room!

    Plus it'd be safer!

  • jefranklin18 #21 2 years ago

    @SAMagic:

    [link url=http://www.theexpeditioner.com/2010/06/30/what-country-travels-the-most/#more-7614
    ]http://www.theexpeditioner.com/2010/06/3...[/link]
    Not sure that using amount spent is true indicator though. Americans and Germans do spend a lot of money while abroad, so that is probably going to distort the results.

  • geeza2020 #22 2 years ago

    Well all I can say to him is when it you're travelling through Asia, as a Brit, the most important thing is bottles of sun cream.

    Better Take-Two.


    ahem.

  • Bluetooth #23 2 years ago

    Family before work, top man. Though to be fair if money wasn't an issue we'd all do the same

  • CaptainQuint #24 2 years ago

    The Heat must have been onto him!

    Here's hoping he can keep those Swiss bank accounts undiscovered ;-)

  • space_ace #25 2 years ago

    probably researching secretly, so... "GTA: Bangkok" confirmed! :)

  • NimbusTLD #26 2 years ago

    Why not, if I had the dosh I'd do the same.

    Stop buying games, sell your current games and consoles, that should net you a few monies :)

  • jonsaan #27 2 years ago

    I love the assumption that this hugely experienced Businessman hasn't travelled much. He's probably been all over the globe in his job anyway. I don't expect he needs travel advice of any of us really.

  • SAMagic #28 2 years ago

    @geeza2020 : I strongly disagree - imodium is essential if you're eating asian food.

    I also imagine it's useful if you work in Bobby Kotick's office too (Google it and you'll understand).

  • levitate #29 2 years ago

    I've got too many games to play to have time for travelling. Only travel I do is to buy the games from my store.

  • randompanda #30 2 years ago

    callum9999 - 1-2% of people in a year at school would be, what - 1 or 2 people? That's a peculiar statistic to throw out there.

    If they're at school, they're not likely to go travelling for a year, surely? If they were, they're not likely to go in the gap between school and college - but likely post-college/sixth form and before they start working full time.

    The British love to travel - you'll find a hell of a lot more young brits doing it now that they can't get into uni.

  • nakedlunch #31 2 years ago

    If news it facts x importance, is this really news?

  • evild_edd #32 2 years ago

    The amount spent will be skewed by wealth and number of a country's population.

    Having travelled for 11 months after uni' (ah - those were the days!) my experience was of lots of Brits, German, French, Irish, Canadian, Argentinian, Spanish, and Ozzie. The only Americans i saw were Marines in Darwin on their to Afghanistan (9/11 kicked off whilst I was in Asia, which wasn't ideal). Every marine, without exception, was a complete c**t.

    I do recall seeing an article that almost 1 in 10 Kiwis are abroad at any one time - giving them the highest percentage of travellers. Strange as they've such a beautiful country infield doorstep (might be a work thing...?)

    I would cautiously recommend travelling to everyone who can afford it. It is an amazing experience, but can make you realise how hollow and aimless the remaining 50 years of your life will be.

    Kudos to this chap for being able to escape whilst he still can.....

  • FogHeart #33 2 years ago

    I think he's teaming up with Inafune to build a secret base in the South Pacific from which to fight the alien threat.

  • callum9999 #34 2 years ago

    Random panda - yes thats about 2 or 3 people. Obviously they didn't go during school, they go in the gap between school and university. The vast majority either went to university, took a gap year to work in England or just stayed at home and looked for work. Now I'm actually at university, most people haven't taken a gap year and again, most of those that did stayed at home.

    Yes the British love to travel - but this usually takes the form of a relaxing beach holiday somewhere hot. People generally don't spend much time travelling around anywhere. While it's anecdotal, I personally think virtually no-one at school doing it, virtually no-one at university (different area of the country) having done it and being asked multiple times on different occasions by at least 4 different European nationalities why the British don't travel is good enough for me to base my opinion on.

  • kangarootoo #35 2 years ago

    What this thread needs is stats!

    [link url=http://www.theexpeditioner.com/2010/06/30/what-country-travels-the-most/
    ]http://www.theexpeditioner.com/2010/06/3...[/link]
    [link url=http://www.worldhum.com/travel-blog/item/what_countrys_citizens_take_the_most_foreign_trips_20060124/
    ]http://www.worldhum.com/travel-blog/item...[/link]

    Unfortunately the Reuters report linked from the second article is no longer there.

    So it seems Germany travels most, with the UK in 2nd or 3rd place depending who you ask. I think both these reports are based on global spend (i.e. which country spends most travelling outside of their own country), which could skew the figures somewhat (one of the articles admits as much).

    The US rates pretty highly, but it could be that less Americans travel, but those that do spend a lot of money doing so (edit: now I think on it, there are a lot of people living in the US - the percentage that travel may be low, but that would still equate to a large number of individuals). Given that getting to a country in Europe takes longer from the US than it does from other countries in Europe, it will cost more and also Americans that do venture to Europe may do so for longer and visit more countries (spending more money as a result).

    Whether this time is spent on beaches or backpacking is anyone's guess, but its all still travel so we shouldn't be too pious about it :)
    Edited by kangarootoo at 29/10/10 @ 16:59

  • Stop-gap #36 2 years ago

    Good stuff, I'd spend my whole life travelling if I could.

  • TheTingler #37 2 years ago

    @MerricK: Was that a subtle Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy reference?

    Good on him though, that must have been a difficult decision.

  • AidyD #38 2 years ago

    Actually Callum9999 the British are considered typical travellers, always polite and friendly, and most countries love the accent too!

    Travelling is a big culture out there, with millions of books, forums and websites all devoted to it - in the UK alone. You just said that to sound smart, or you believe that chav culture actually outweighs the middle classes - which it doesnt by a long shot..

    Regardless of the national coverage chav culture gets, and boozin it up on the costa etc etc.

  • Nephirion #39 2 years ago

    I wish I had the money to travel but I spent it all buying pointless games who's profits in turn pay for this guys travel ... oh the irony.

  • collateral89 #40 2 years ago

    im going travling around thailand for 2 weeks to meet 4 mates whos been there for 3 month and they all say theres loads of british around. and alltogether for me to go 4 2 weeks is costing me 1100pound so pretty cheap really cos that includes everything. and if u wanted to go 4 longer to xperience more u can work handin leaflets out and they giv u free accomidation and food so its easy to travel u just gota go and book it to make ureself go :)