Take-Two, the publisher behind hit titles such as GTA V and the NBA 2K series is planning on including microtransactions in all future titles.
In an investor call (as transcribed by Gamasutra) Take- Two CEO, Strauss Zelnick explained that recurrent consumer spending is a huge opportunity for the company and is the way he’d like to take the company fThe reasoning
“we aim to have recurrent consumer spending opportunities for every title that we put out at this company. It may not always be an online model, it probably won’t always be a virtual currency model, but there will be some ability to engage in an ongoing basis with our titles after release across the board”.
asoning for this comes from the latest financial results provided by the company, which showcases that recurrent consumer spending accounts for 42% of Take-Two’s earnings in the last quarter. He calls it “a sea change in our business” and “transformative”.
“The business, once upon a time,” he explains “was a big chunky opportunity to engage for tens of hours, or perhaps a hundred hours. That has turned into ongoing engagement. Day after day, week after week. You fall in love with these titles, and they become part of your daily life.”
“One of the things we’ve learned is if we create a robust opportunity, and a robust world, in which people can play delightfully in a bigger and bigger way, that they will keep coming back. They will engage. And there is an opportunity to monetize that engagement,” he continued. “There’s a lot of room for growth. This is just the beginning.”
While yes, Microtransactions are very unpopular with the fans (remember when DLC first became a thing?) One can’t argue against the statistical evidence that it provides extra revenue to the publisher, and at the end of the day cash is king.
(via IGN)