Take-Two won't annualise GTA, Red Dead

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 2 December, 2010

Threatens quality and burns out gamers.

Mega publisher Take-Two has promised gamers it won't release new titles in the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead series every year.

Take-Two's policy with its most popular games is in direct contrast to Activision's, which releases new titles in the Call of Duty and Hero franchises every year.

Analysts have long called for more regular output from Take-Two's big hitters, but president Strauss Zelnick told Reuters the publisher was less reliant on GTA these days than it has been in the past, and is even on track to achieve profitability in a year without the release of a new GTA for the first time in a decade.

Zelnick said "annualizing" games threatens their quality and risks burning out consumers.

May's Red Dead Redemption was a break-out hit for Take-Two. As of September it had "sold in" over 6.9 million units of the open world cowboy game worldwide.

Analysts have said they do not expect Grand Theft Auto V to launch until 2012, although Rockstar is yet to make any official announcement on the game.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 1 year ago

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

  • Hunam #1 1 year ago

    Considering the size of GTA and RDR and 2K's situation, I don't think they could churn one out every year even if they wanted to.

  • tossetaz #2 1 year ago

    Bravo!

  • StolenGlory #3 1 year ago

    Fuckin' A.

  • M4RV #4 1 year ago

    Amazing... Just two and a half years ago, Take-Two was in financial shambles and now they're at the top of the world again, so to speak; Good one. ;)

  • reelbigkris #5 1 year ago

    Well, that's just grand!

  • HisDudness #6 1 year ago

    Glad RDR did so well, that game was awesome and deserved the praise and success it received.

    I like to mix up genres pretty frequently to avoid getting burnt out on a type of game. Take 2 and Rock Star are smart to space releases and ensure quality. I will definitely hold my open world style gaming purchase for their next thematically compelling release.

  • nuanimal #7 1 year ago

    For some reason I read that as "analize"...

  • MiniAmin #8 1 year ago

    Microsoft (Halo), Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed) and Activision (Everything) please take note!

  • M_of_the_sys #9 1 year ago

    More quality DLC for RDR would be much appreciated.

  • thedgam #10 1 year ago

    Everyone of em' big publishers is in here for the money, at least 2k/rockstar guys make sure they get it the right and earned way. Effort and Craftsmanship, none of that suffocating annual bullshit.

  • alimokrane #11 1 year ago

    They can't do it but Surely they WANT TO, no doubt!

  • ubergine #12 1 year ago

    "Zelnick said "annualizing" games threatens their quality and risks burning out consumers. "

    Hear hear!

  • Inquisitor #13 1 year ago

    I really like Take Two, over the past few years they've published so many of my favourite games.

    The Darkess, Oblivion, Prey, Bioshock, Borderlands, Call of Cthulu, Bully, let alone the GTA series. It's encouraging that they're willing to take risks on more interesting projects.

  • dadrester #14 1 year ago

    where is AGENT?!

  • gjgjg #15 1 year ago

    There is a lesson to be learned here somewhere, 2K ftw

  • slickster #16 1 year ago

    I would like to see a new bully game. that game was great fun on ps2 and 360

  • menage #17 1 year ago

    RDR and GTA4 were fun, but after playing games like AC2 or Fallout I really hope they're less shallow in the end when they make new ones. I couldn't finsih both because it just got too samey in the end. I'm burned out on the Rockstar template. Too much empty cloaked as a lively world.

  • M_of_the_sys #18 1 year ago

    menage wrote: Too much empty cloaked as a lively world.

    Funnily enough, this is how I felt about Fallout 3. Horses for courses.

  • chrisjm #19 1 year ago

    im sure i heard they are making bully 2? i hope so!

  • solidSnake04 #20 1 year ago

    should we be angry and downmark them on GTAV for taking 4 years to develop (or more with eventually delays) ?
    this is for the ones trashing PD on GT5. Id take perfection any day... and just play something else till what I want is out :)

  • JahB #21 1 year ago

    it's good to see there are still some industry suits left that actually get it.

  • Bulbatron #22 1 year ago

    Inquisitor, I agree with you about how many great games they've made.

    I loved Oblivion and BioShock, and I also really liked The Darkness, Prey, Bully and Call of Cthulhu.

    Didn't like Grand Theft Auto IV much. I thought it was pretty boring compared to the previous 3-D games.

    But I loved Red Dead Redemption and I'm thoroughly enjoying Undead Nightmare.

  • AdamAsunder #23 1 year ago

    In this day and age it's rare to see a publisher that's looking at the bigger picture.

    Sure Activision is making wonga with COD but they've already got two once massive franchises that are suffering badly from overstaturation in Tony Hawks and Guitar Hero.

    It's a marathon, not a sprint. In clamoring for all the money now you just end up alienating your customers.

    The more years between iterations the greater the progress made, sequels genuinely feel like new games instead of stand alone expansion packs.

  • greenllama88 #24 1 year ago

    Agree with calls for another Bully game, I love GTA and Red Dead Redemption but the thought another Bully gets me feeling twice as warm and twinkly as those two put together.

  • Sevens #25 1 year ago

    Yeah, publishers should freeze that damn DLC, too (except for small [full] games, such as 2D, "Indie" games and classics [PS1 and older]).

  • Lord_Gremlin #26 1 year ago

    If only Rockstar were better at optimizing... Look at their recent PC and PS3 games.

    And there's Agent? Sony, you've paid for it, start rushing their lazy butts.

  • nooneyouknow #27 1 year ago

    Great attitide - sure i read that last years revenues were suffering but that the company has enough cash flow, can ride that out knowing that what what they have in development can carry them through is a great business model... Take-Two, are you hiring??? !

  • drhickman1983 #28 1 year ago

    A company who actualyl understand bombarding customers every year isn't a good thing. Well done.

    As it's come up a few times, I personally never really got what was wrong with GTA 4, if I'm being honest it's probably remained one of my favourite games on the 360, still frequently boot it up for a quick run around. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, mine is that 4 is the best in the series.

  • Ryze #29 1 year ago

    They shouldn't annualise. If anything, they should continue using their different studios to stagger releases of games based on the best engine they have at the moment.

    Original games aimed at different audiences, with unique gameplay features.

    @solidSnake04

    GT5 is far from fucking perfect. Great game, but they probably spent too much time dicking about enjoying racing supercars around the world.

    San An released in 2004, and GTA IV in 2008. In between we had Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories, Bully... plus the delay preventing a release in 2007 was caused by... the game not working on the PS3. Quelle surprise.
    Edited by Ryze at 03/12/10 @ 12:57