Do you ever think that Take-Two games like GTA 5 or Red Dead Redemption 2 are relatively inexpensive compared to the amount of content they provide? Well, you aren’t the only one. According to the company’s CEO Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two thinks their games are worth more than the industry standard of $60. Technically, they aren’t exactly wrong. Okay, hear me out. Don’t throw your tomatoes just yet.
While not every game from Take-Two might be a GOTY type offering, the products from Rockstar almost always are. They typically offer a massive detailed open-world single-player experience, which almost every time receives high critical reception. The best example is the one I mentioned above, GTA 5 and RDR2. Not only that, but there is also a supplementary Online portion which regularly receives free post-launch content. However, I won’t deny that the Online parts for GTA 5 and RDR2 are incredibly grindy unless you shell out more money via microtransactions. They offer so much value for the price, which is why they don’t get as much backlash as EA and Activision get for their predatory monetization schemes.
“We deliver the highest quality experiences in the business, and we charge much less for them than we believe they are worth to consumers,” Zelnick said during the financial call. “And then we deliver, typically, an ongoing component that is free. And that is already a great deal of value. Any monetization is of course totally optional.”
When asked about why Take-Two does not emphasize free-to-play games like EA and Activision, Zelnick responded that they already offer the ‘free’ Online part with their singleplayer experiences. However, a completely free version hasn't been ruled out either. GTA 5 Online will be free for PlayStation 5 for the first three months. If that pans out, who knows? Maybe Take-Two will be more open to a free version of GTA 5 or RDR2.
So what do you think? Do you think the Take-Two CEO is correct here? Do you think a free version of GTA 5 and RDR2 is viable? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
