Take-Two Interactive recently had an earnings call, allowing the company to take on some questions from investors. One of which was all about the topic of films and television series. There’s been some uptick regarding successful adaptations lately from video games being the source material. But that doesn’t mean there will be companies looking to take a risk in this entertainment medium. According to the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, Strauss Zelnick, it’s a relatively small economic opportunity.
The two big hitters lately were brought up during the investor’s question. Those being the successful Nintendo film The Super Mario Bros. Movie along with the HBO live-action adaptation series of The Last of Us. Both did incredibly well in the entertainment medium, which had notoriously been difficult for video games to get adapted. But those two success also doesn’t necessarily reflect a trend we’ll see going forward. There were quite a few failed projects that just didn’t quite hit the strides filmmakers were hopeful to see hit with the audience.
Strauss Zelnick went on to say that they are not going to use their balance sheet to invest in films and television projects. While this is still a challenging entertainment medium, the company has been very selective when it comes to licensing. For instance, we know that there are films in the works, such as the upcoming BioShock movie. But it looks like Take-Two Interactive will take the approach of carefully selecting IPs to be adapted. In fact, the future could even rely on the success Take-Two Interactive sees with its current projects in the works.
We think it’s probably a relatively small opportunity economically. We’re not going to use our balance sheet to invest in film and television projects. Those are typically very challenged asset classes with which I’m quite familiar. And to point out two success as notable as they may be, lies the fact that there are many, many failures where money was lost.
Strauss Zelnick – Seeking Alpha Investor QA Transcript
Of course, we can easily argue that Take-Two Interactive has quite a few notable IPs that could get adapted into a film. For instance, Rockstar Games has both Grand Theft Auto and the Red Dead Redemption series. Both could potentially be adapted as a cinematic experience or an episodic series. But for now, it looks like despite the recent success we’ve seen from some of the video game IP adaptations, Take-Two Interactive is practicing some caution on the entertainment medium.
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