Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has stated that review scores continue to be a crucial measure of success for video games, including the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6. This assertion comes despite shifting media consumption habits and the growing influence of social media platforms. Speaking to The Game Business ahead of GTA 6's launch on November 19, Zelnick emphasized that critical reception holds as much importance today as it did in previous years. He pointed to Rockstar Games' track record as evidence of the studio's dedication to quality.
Importance of Review Scores
Zelnick affirmed that review scores are indeed important, stating they matter as much today "as they have in the past." He added, "Rockstar's scores are typically in the mid-90s, sometimes high 90s. Not many games can say that. And that's a reflection on Rockstar's commitment to quality." Rockstar's previous major releases, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, both achieved Metacritic scores of 97. However, industry observers believe that maintaining such a high level of critical consensus may be more challenging in today's media environment.
2K's Recent Launch Challenges
During the interview, Zelnick also addressed recent releases from Take-Two's 2K label, acknowledging issues surrounding the launches of Borderlands 4 and Civilization 7 while defending their overall performance. He stated, "I take responsibility for any missteps anywhere in our company. The responsibility is with me. That's my job. Borderlands 4 was highly successful. It will be a very profitable lifetime title. Civilization 7 was very successful, and it will be a very profitable lifetime title. Both faced some challenges in their initial releases, and those are being addressed. We have just released a very significant update for Civ 7. We've released updates for Borderlands 4. There is more content coming for both games."
Zelnick further explained, "I definitely can acknowledge missteps with both releases, but at the same time, these are great franchises, these are great iterations, and we couldn't be more thrilled of how the business is going broadly. I think 2K is crushing it across the board. If the worst you can say in a year when you've had this kind of financial performance is that a couple of titles did slightly less well than you would have hoped, and you're addressing whatever challenges you face and you're still generating profits with both titles… that's a high-class problem. I'll take those problems any day of the week."
Development Timelines
Zelnick also responded to questions about lengthy development timelines affecting several upcoming Take-Two projects, including BioShock 4, Project Ethos, GTA 6, and Judas. He noted, "I wouldn't confuse long development cycles with a lackadaisical approach to development cycles. Everything we do is in the context of milestones, budgets and delivery dates. Certain titles are so complex and so challenging to build, they take a long time. It is possible that recent developments in technology will allow us to compress some development timelines without compromising quality, and we will hope to do that."
He added, "But everything that we do here is thought out and reasoned, we don't just wait to hear how things are going. We make choices about how we are going to develop in the context of what our creative teams are trying to achieve and what we believe the market demands in terms of quality in order to deliver a hit. We are in the business of making hits. Everything we do is in service of trying to make a hit."
