Take-Two: $40 iPad games possible

By Fred Dutton Published 21 June, 2011

"Robust" titles would sell at higher price.

Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two can see a future where it could viably sell full $40 games on tablets.

Whereas iPad games currently sell for only marginally more than the pocket change demanded for smartphone titles, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick believes that meatier games could be profitable on the format at a much higher price point.

"I don't see why not," he told Forbes. "Tablets are ubiquitous. And tablets are a great game platform. And it's the right sized screen. And you use the tablet to have an engaging experience.

"So if all of that's true, I don't see why we wouldn't be able to sell a robust product for the same price point. The reason the price point is currently lower for an iPhone app is it is used for five minutes, and not for a hundred hours."

However, Zelnick was less enthusiastic about the smartphone market for big-budget titles.

"We tried Chinatown Wars for the iPhone, and we're thrilled that we did it, and it was creatively successful. At the price point for which we can sell on the iPhone, it is not going to be economically meaningful.

"At the end of the day, we are interested in creating economic value, and what we intend to do is make something and sell it to millions and millions of people, and sell it at a high price.

"You don't want to spend lots and lots of money to make something you are going to sell to a small amount of people at a low price."

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (58) Latest comment 11 months ago

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

  • Xardan #1 11 months ago

    No no no no no!

  • cheeky_BILLY #2 11 months ago

    To quote the internetz 'O RLY?'

  • Snake_2011 #3 11 months ago

    I have a ipad 2 never use it for games prefer my console.

  • coolbritannia #4 11 months ago

    I lol'd.

  • uglygamer #5 11 months ago

    Without a physical D-pad and buttons I will never pay more than 10 pounds for an ipad game. Never!
    Edited by uglygamer at 21/06/11 @ 17:32

  • ZizouFC #6 11 months ago

    Then their whole hook of being a cheap value for your money alternative would be gone.

  • GamesConnoisseur #7 11 months ago

    Totally wrong marketplace and more, there is no dedicated tactile control, I m quite chuffed with the niche and price points of excellent titles on iPad/iPhone. World of Goo, Plants vs Zombies etc benefits from touch screen but would never consider them at optical disk retail games price ranges.

    Furthermore overhead costs are not same with download only games, manpower also smaller.

    If they do go ahead, only hope that this ll be a one off thing ... as too few buying.

  • StolenGlory #8 11 months ago

    If Apple et al sort out a decent control scheme for tablets then we'll talk.

  • Wyrm #9 11 months ago

    iOS is not the platform for 'robust' titles. It's for Plants vs Zombies and Peggle, not Red Dead Redemption and Elder Scrolls. This is in no way a criticism.

  • jablonski #10 11 months ago

    "economically meaningful"

    Where do these chumps get these phrases from?

  • jonbwfc #11 11 months ago

    No, come on. Let's all say we will buy iOS games at 40 quid a pop, so they actually try. It'll be a laugh.

  • Cronan #12 11 months ago

    It's possible, but pretty unlikely. Maybe £10, but I can't see them getting it much higher than that ...

  • miseryguts #13 11 months ago

    HELLO... They have no physical controls!! when are dev/publishers & hardware manufacturers going to admit that anything more than the usual casual stuff Fruit Ninja, Bejewelled.. etc, etc sucks on a touch screen! until we as a race evolve mind control.. they are always going to suck, no amount of 'expert' articles heralding how the future of gaming is all going to be eventually touchscreen or glowing testimonials of recent converts is ever going to convince me otherwise.


    "Tablets are ubiquitous" .... and so are idiots with more money than sense.

    Edited by miseryguts at 22/06/11 @ 00:27

  • superfurry #14 11 months ago

    Not without a bundled joypad and a HDMI out connection.

  • superfurry #15 11 months ago

    Not without a bundled joypad and a HDMI out connection.

  • Hobo #16 11 months ago

    People are commenting as if there won't be any change in how games are played on tablets. What's to say there won't be a time where there's a universal controller available for gaming on something like an iPad - particularly when every year Apple inches closer and closer to enterting the gaming market full time?

    Sure, we don't want pricier games on these formats, but unfortunately it is going to happen at some point. And with how far along tablet hardware is moving, i can't say i'd begrudge paying $40/£25 for a fully fledged GTA7 that i can lug around with me wherever i went.

    I apologise in advance for engaging my brain before i typed, the negative marks against this post will go some way to me thinking about what i've done.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #17 11 months ago

    Let's all say we will buy iOS games at 40 quid a pop, so they actually try.

    It's only 25 quid.

    If a game were good enough, and I had an iPad, I'd consider paying that for a game. Like if it were a port of StarCraft 2 or something of proper full price game quality, and not compromised by touchscreen-only controls.

  • persus-9 #18 11 months ago

    I donno, I'd happily pay a fair chunk for a tablet version of something like Civ. I can see easily see myself sitting on the sofa tapping away at a big touchpad based turn based strategy like that while my fiancée watches TV next to me. Or perhaps a JRPG, not my usual thing but it could be good. Damnit, now I want a tablet and those bits of software.

  • RawNinjaKid #19 11 months ago

    Controls are the key. Apple need to work on something designed for gaming.
    Sony are doing it with PlayStation certified smart phones and tablets, with the PS Suite, which is kind of itunes territory.

    Nintendo and MSFT obviously are doing their own thing, control wise as well!! Add to the PS Vita's touch controls....... I think it's safe to say there's unlikely to ever be a standard for every game. Mobile or Home console.

    Would I pay £40 for GTA IX on the ipad/phone? Not if it's better on the PS5 or WilPadU or something!

    Edited by RawNinjaKid at 21/06/11 @ 18:19

  • Widge #20 11 months ago

    I'd pay $40 for a FULL version of Command and Conquer for example. If they were trying to charge $40 for a typical low depth/low budget iOS title then NO.

  • Sid-Nice #21 11 months ago

    And the next news item will be "Take-Two won't be supporting the Wii U." Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said "Support for the Wii worked with Carnival Games but at this moment in time we're not sure about developing for the Wii U."

  • Feanor #22 11 months ago

    What a lunatic.

  • nuanimal #23 11 months ago

    Go on then. Try it. I dare ya.

  • CaptainQuint #24 11 months ago

    Hey Tale-Two bloke: I never, EVER pay more than 59p for iPad games.

    Remember that, silly person.

  • des #25 11 months ago

    "People are commenting as if there won't be any change in how games are played on tablets. What's to say there won't be a time where there's a universal controller available for gaming on something like an iPad - particularly when every year Apple inches closer and closer to enterting the gaming market full time? "

    Time of the tablets is definitely coming:)
    We just need some gaming cradle(dual analogs,buttons,etc)--tablet form factor unchanged.Touch is like motion controls,good for something--but if you want to play Fallout 3,you absolutely need mouse/kb or dual analogs.
    Wii U is coming,Windows 8 tablets too--full blown Windows without big games=meh

  • Adgeman #26 11 months ago

    "The reason the price point is currently lower for an iPhone app is it is used for five minutes, and not for a hundred hours."

    Tell that to Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. I've played these for many more hours than some console games I bought this year.

  • Sid-Nice #27 11 months ago

    Looking deeper into this report and putting other analyst statements into consideration; I believe that certain sections of the gaming industry are testing the water for "Downloadable content only games" in future gaming.

  • natureboy #28 11 months ago

    I am sorry this is a video games site and not an iGay sorry iPad site.. got it EG?
    Edited by natureboy at 21/06/11 @ 18:48

  • beastmaster #29 11 months ago

    By all means make them. I will by no means buy them.

  • jellyBelly #30 11 months ago

    If the depth and breadth of content is there and the controls are better suited to touch I'm willing to go to 15-25 for digital releases. What I've most enjoyed on iPad is adventures board games, strategy and puzzle games. Unfortunately for publishers these games do not in general command such high prices

  • Ben86 #31 11 months ago

    iGay? How long did it take you to think of that one dipshit

  • Seoh #32 11 months ago

    Can someone please point out to this muppet that it would be a step backwards. I can understand premium games akin to xbox live prices but NO ONE WILL BUY £40 games on a tablet.

    Please pay attention to valve, cheaply priced games can be profitable, you don't need to always rape the consumer!

  • Skutter7 #33 11 months ago

    If they ported games like Sins of a Solar Empire with a UI developed specifically for touch-screen, I'd definitely buy that at this sort of price point. But that could just be me...

  • randompanda #34 11 months ago

    Ben86 - Don't be so patronising, it quite possibly took him quite some time!

  • Ror1984 #35 11 months ago

    I have a tablet. It runs Windows 7. I have Steam on it, and bought Half Life 2 for £6. I can plug a wired controller into one of the USB ports to play it.

    Just sayin'.

  • natureboy #36 11 months ago

    Who said that? must be very silly indeed :)

  • SBfistfun #37 11 months ago

    Good luck with that one...

  • rockin_rob_1 #38 11 months ago

    "At the end of the day, we are interested in creating economic value, and what we intend to do is make something and sell it to millions and millions of people, and sell it at a high price."

    At least this guys honest. Most publishers wouldn't have come out and said this.

  • Widge #39 11 months ago

    I'd be willing to play for fully fledged, big budget, deep gameplay games. iOS lacks these outside of titles ported from proper platforms. You get vague stabs at deep gaming like Galaxy On Fire but the lack of budget and quality is obvious. For the money it costs, it does alright.

    As a result I'd pay little money for the games currently on offer as that is their value. I'm not going to suddenly demand that Skyrim is priced at 59p because Cut The Rope is. If a title of equivalent quality is released on iOS I would not complain at it being priced accordingly.

    Peoples main gripe appears to be a thinly veiled excuse to have an iOS gaminglol.

  • azic #40 11 months ago

    This guy makes no bones about it.

    "Sell to millions at a high price"

    Ok.... Next.

  • DrStrangelove #41 11 months ago

    100 hours? For quite some time, there's been only one game I've played that much: Eufloria. (EG gave it only 5/10, but EG is always wrong, obviously)

    I'd love to play that on iPad, actually. I'm planning to buy one, although not really for playing games.

  • Jay1983 #42 11 months ago

    If the game IS worth 40, id pay 40. But any game without physical media is not worth 40 in my opinion.

  • Marshall2008 #43 11 months ago

    With iOS 5 on the horizon you will be getting online backups for app saves and full screen AirPlay of all apps to the Apple TV, the right title using touch input and no virtual joysticks etc could sell for way more than the normal 5 quid. Of course it would require a lot of commitment from the developer and publisher but it's not without reason.

  • Widge #44 11 months ago

    What's in a disc and a box? That's the least valuable part of a game! Unless you're thinking resale value?

  • septimus #45 11 months ago

    Won't actually sell though... he might have missed that bit.

  • Wobbler #46 11 months ago

    But how much does TTWO actually get per title? We know that Apple always take a 30% cut, which leaves TTWO with $7 of income from a $10 app.

    So lets compare that with a on-the-shelf release for $40 retaill? According to this (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertai... -- personally, I assumed that retail took a much bigger cut than the 25% suggested there) the publisher gets $27 from a $60 game. Assuming that the publisher wants a fixed cost per unit (which is how I believe it generally works) that means a $40 game at retail gets TTWO something like $15 revenue, so a bit more than twice as much money per unit sold.

    But you don't get second-hand sales on the App Store, unlike when Game sells and resells the same title without any more cash going to the publisher. And because prices are also lower, you could expect better sales on iDevices than on more tradional platforms (of course, this is where the lack of controls, etc. on the iPad & iPhone come into play. And there's the demographic argument too -- GTA4 got many millions of sales very quickly, whereas even Angry Birds took a while to hit a few million. But I'd wager that the number of iOS devices is growing at a much faster rate than the number of "home consoles" so even a small percentage of a huge number of people might be as worthwhile as the majority of a smaller market)

    So I would suggest that the App Store has to be somewhat "economically meaningful" even at $10
    Edited by Wobbler at 21/06/11 @ 22:28

  • FortysixterUK #47 11 months ago

    Taking.
    The.
    Piss.

    Regardless of the developer, if they made that happen I'd gladly see them go under.

  • wobbly_Bob #48 11 months ago

    It will never happen. People are used to paying 59p for a game! Also, most games players are casual players who have no interest in "robust" titles. He is dreaming.

  • giapel #49 11 months ago

    Zero Market research and a value out of his ass. Personally I'm already upset that 'HD' versions of iPhone games are more expensive on the iPad. £3 is my maximum for an iPad game.

  • Dasmankey #50 11 months ago

    So there making money, bit still not enough money as they like to make,.

  • secombe #51 11 months ago

    The funny thing is, I (and a few people I know) are playing some iPad titles for at least as long as some console games I've paid 30 times as much for. Yet the mindset is firmly in the 'wouldn't pay more than £5 for a game' mode.

    It's kind of like puzzle games, for whatever reason in highly rated puzzle reviews you always get people in the comments saying 'wouldn't pay full price for it like I would a 'proper' game'.

  • davisorle #52 11 months ago

    Post deleted at 20:44:35 16-04-2012

  • tankboi #53 11 months ago

    Haha what a joker!

    He IS joking right...?

    He's not joking!?

    Haha what a w*****!

  • tankboi #54 11 months ago

    @secombe

    It is not relevant to how long people play the game for, as it is totally subjective. It's also about common decency, and not ripping off the consumer just because they can. How much does it cost to make a full next-gen title? Lets say on average in excess of £3m, and a workforce of about 50-100 people over a 2 year dev cycle.

    Now lets compare that to an ipad/iphone game made by 1-10 guys in someone's front room (or very cheap small office) in 6 months? How much would that cost to make? Not a bustin' lot in comparison. So you see the price scales according to the cost of the development. It would be unfair if someone made a game for 10k then started asking £30 for it. Their profit would be insane.

    Even a game with high production values such as the iphone Dead Space would cost peanuts in development in comparison to a console game. The £5 price seemed high but it was fair for the size of the game. I don't see what kind of game they could possibly make to warrant a £30 price tag when Dead Space (and other huge-scale mobile titles) can be sold for £5 already.

  • des #55 11 months ago

    Tablet haters are strong here...good:)

  • paulf #56 11 months ago

    Tablets are ubiquitous. And tablets are a great game platform.

    er no, and no

  • brod #57 11 months ago

    "Tablets are ubiquitous."

    Since when?

  • moonrad #58 11 months ago

    I think the $40/£25 price point is far too high. People are playing games on their mobile devices and tablets because they're cheap. If angry birds was that kind of price, do you think it'd have even a quarter of the success it has?

    I certainly don't think the market is anywhere near ready for it, if ever, but the devices will need to have a lot more storage before the user base grows, with iOS devices maxing out storage at 64Gb (atm), it wouldn't make sense to develop high end games for the platform until the hardware had caught up.