Home Gaming “Our competitors burn off their franchises” with annual releases says Take-Two boss

“Our competitors burn off their franchises” with annual releases says Take-Two boss

2 min read
43

RDR

This year, there’s no real Assassin’s Creed game. Instead, for fans, there’s a collection of remasters centered around the series’ most enigmatic and interesting protagonist, Ezio. I’m pretty happy that Ubisoft’s taken that decision, because though Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is actually a fine, fine game, consumers had probably hit franchise fatigue by then.

It’s probably what’s happening to Call of Duty right now. Though it features the freshest and most genuinely fun to play single player campaign it’s had in years, its multiplayer is staler than the discount doughnuts at your local Checkers. There are very real risks of fatigue when things are annualised. Risking consumer fatigue isn’t something Take Two wants to do.

While a new GTA or Red Dead Redemption may sound like a decent idea in your head, it’d dilute the franchises, and create less of that delicious hype whenever a new one’s announced.

“I suppose, conceptually, if we took all [of our franchises] and we just turned it into an annualized schedule–leaving everything else to the side–the math says you would be in a better place,”  Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told a crowd of investors at an MKM Partners event (via Gamespot). “But what would it imply? It would imply doubling our development teams. It would imply calling into question our quality. And it would imply the risk that consumers tire of these franchises. One of the things that’s best about Take-Two is our franchises seem to be permanent. They’re beloved and permanent. Whereas our competitors burn off their franchises, which means they have to create new ones, which is incredibly difficult to do.”

Take Two’s goal here then, isn’t to create new IP all the time. Rather they want get to the point where they have enough established ones that they’re able to release different games each year, with decent breaks between core franchises.

“We can have a really powerful release schedule without burning off the IP and that’s our goal,” he said.

Of course, Take Two isn’t wholly against annualisation – and they do it quite well with their sports games like NBA 2K and WWE 2K. I do, however, largely agree with Zelnick. Too much of a good thing, and it becomes mundane. That said, we do need new IPs more than recycled ones.

Last Updated: November 18, 2016

43 Comments

  1. Lord Chaos

    November 18, 2016 at 08:35

    All I want is Warcraft 4.

    Reply

    • Original Heretic

      November 18, 2016 at 08:36

      All I want is to be a Simba chippie. But I have a grow a little more.

      And then get sliced up and burnt to a literal crisp.

      Wait, WHY do I wanna be a SImba chippie?!?!?

      Reply

      • Lord Chaos

        November 18, 2016 at 08:38

        In scalding oil. Sounds like a bad life choice.

        Also, I think you missed a “to”.

        Reply

        • Andre Fourie

          November 18, 2016 at 08:39

          Are we still doing Grammar Nazi?

          Reply

          • Lord Chaos

            November 18, 2016 at 08:40

            Not really, but that hurt my brain.

          • Original Heretic

            November 18, 2016 at 08:40

            That’s why I’m here, to create brain hurt. It worked. My mission is successful.

            MUHAHAHAHAHA!

          • Lord Chaos

            November 18, 2016 at 08:42

            Congratulations, you are Ice-cream and gave me brain freeze. 😛

          • Original Heretic

            November 18, 2016 at 08:43

            So I’m cool, sweet and tasty? And I hurt you when you eat me too fast?
            This is amazing! And it explains SO much!

          • Andre Fourie

            November 18, 2016 at 08:46

            Uhhhmmmm. Okay.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            November 18, 2016 at 08:51

            Or you could be rum & raisin. 😀

          • Original Heretic

            November 18, 2016 at 08:54

            Slightly alcoholic and tooty fruity? Nah, that ain’t me.

            Pretty sure I’m more of a mint choc chip.

          • Andre Fourie

            November 18, 2016 at 08:58

          • Lord Chaos

            November 18, 2016 at 09:00

            I call bs on that, Money can buy Dopamine, therefore the first part of your argument is invalid,

          • Andre Fourie

            November 18, 2016 at 09:02

            RUM!!! RUM!!!!! RUM!!!!!! RUM!!!!!!! RUM!!!!!!!

          • Andre Fourie

            November 18, 2016 at 09:02

            And Coke….(like in Coca Cola)

          • Lord Chaos

            November 18, 2016 at 09:03

            LOL! Or my idea yesterday: Rum salad.

          • Andre Fourie

            November 18, 2016 at 09:03

            Actually money will buy me a lot of happiness.

          • Andre Fourie

            November 18, 2016 at 08:40

            XD

          • Andre Fourie

            November 18, 2016 at 08:41

            I only start seeing colour after ten cups of coffee. Not there yet.

  2. Andre Fourie

    November 18, 2016 at 08:40

    I tried to play Assassins Creed. Just couldn’t get into it.

    Reply

    • Original Heretic

      November 18, 2016 at 08:42

      I enjoyed the first two, but after that it just became more of the same.

      Reply

    • Lord Chaos

      November 18, 2016 at 08:47

      AC was my guilty pleasure. Especially running around as a pirate and hunting ships.

      Reply

      • Fox1 - Retro

        November 18, 2016 at 09:23

        AC: Black Flag was a great story driven game. AC 3, Unity and Syndicate are just fillers rushed to the market.

        Reply

  3. Raptor Rants

    November 18, 2016 at 08:50

    Well done. These guys get it.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      November 18, 2016 at 08:53

      Except with their sports games

      Reply

      • Raptor Rants

        November 18, 2016 at 10:17

        which have serious fatigue no?

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          November 18, 2016 at 10:38

          WWE sure does, the last one is crap

          Reply

    • Bruce Bielie

      November 18, 2016 at 09:25

      Now where is GTA VI?

      Reply

      • Raptor Rants

        November 18, 2016 at 10:17

        See? You crave more. No fatigue. They are doing it right 🙂

        Reply

        • Bruce Bielie

          November 18, 2016 at 10:36

          I don’t know. I tend to get obsessed with a game and then imitate some of the characters. Mention the name Trevor to my family and my sister starts rocking slowly and cries ever so softly.

          Reply

  4. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    November 18, 2016 at 08:55

  5. 40 Insane Frogs

    November 18, 2016 at 09:19

    I couldn’t agree more! Make this man president of the United States!

    Reply

  6. Fox1 - Retro

    November 18, 2016 at 09:26

    If we didn’t have annual franchises, we wouldn’t have games to play each year because the year old games drop to more affordable pricing whereas games like GTA5 stays at a ridiculous RRP of R600-R800 for years.

    Reply

    • Bruce Bielie

      November 18, 2016 at 09:29

      GTA V is a great game, great quality and all that but wow. I cannot believe that after all this time there hasn’t been a price drop. The odd special on the PSN yes. But nothing more.

      Reply

      • Greylingad[He Charges!]

        November 18, 2016 at 12:49

        Ok, so by that argument, would you then pay less for a bmw 3 series after two years? The reason I’m asking is to clarify quality standards, by all meabe Gtav is a brilliant game, given all that went into creating it, what would cause it to devalue the same as yearly iterations like cod or brittlefield? It’s a bit of a misnomer…

        Reply

        • Bruce Bielie

          November 18, 2016 at 13:16

          Gaming is a different beast to art or cars. (Yes, games are art but let’s be realistic for a moment.) It is also a product made for mass consumption. And if you look at the run of any other AAA game, after a while, they go down in price. Even the mighty Mass Effect and Skyrim did that. Why? Lower prices means more people that did not buy day one, buys now. So cashflow whilst not that great as in the first few months, is still happening. GTA V is a great game. But the fact that Take2/Rockstar/Whoever is still maintaining release day prices smacks a tiny bit of greed to me.

          Reply

          • Greylingad[He Charges!]

            November 18, 2016 at 16:41

            This is true, but think about what a cod title costs, on the PSN or on pc, games that pale in comparison to something like GTA V… But it’s a crapshow…

          • Bruce Bielie

            November 21, 2016 at 09:47

            Sorry. Late reply. I feel you. COD still manages to be some of the best popcorn style shooters out there when it comes to their single players. But alas, those prices remain top dollar for old releases as well?

    • Magoo

      November 18, 2016 at 12:04

      If you put R300 away for each of the first two years, you could have been playing the latest GTA for the last 2 years.

      Reply

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