Take-Two Talks About Licensing Their IPs For Film Adaptations

The video game industry has had a good share of movie adaptations, but with it, very few became a grand success. There’s a fine line between creating something unique for viewers to enjoy while also staying true with the integrity of those who loved the original intellectual property. Now, we’re getting word from the CEO of Take-Two on his position when it comes to the movie industry.

Lately, we’ve seen a number of video game franchises receive a film adaptation. This latest trend, if successful, could potentially top the various superhero comic book film adaptations that have been the clear blockbuster hits as of late. However, for Take-Two, they are very protective over their IPs and the likelihood we’ll see a video game adaptation of Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption is pretty low.

Speaking to Game Industry, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick spoke of how a potential bad film adaptation could greatly affect the original IP. Even though there’s bound to be a decent crowd willing accept a film adaptation of one of their popular IPs such as Grand Theft Auto, BioShock, Borderlands, to even Red Dead Redemption, the risk of a bad film is just too great.

“For us to license motion pictures, we have been very selective because the economic opportunity is limited and the creative risk is meaningful. Said another way, if a bad movie is made it may hurt our underlying intellectual property, and if a good movie is made the actual value of those license fees is not enormous. So we have to be very, very selective.”

While it’s not a definite “no”, the chances of a Take-Two IP receiving a film is not even on the company’s radar right now.