Can subscriptions for GTA and BioShock content be far off? Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick is a big believer in the subscription model apparently.
by James Brightman on Thursday, November 13, 2008
Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets conference, Take-Two Interactive Chairman Strauss Zelnick outlined what he believes will be big drivers of business for his company and the game industry as a whole going forward. Zelnick noted in particular that microtransactions and downloadable content are the "biggest opportunity."
"With Grand Theft Auto IV we will be offering downloadable episodes that gamers can buy on Xbox Live after they've purchased the original title. We've also [announced] that next week we will be releasing add-on content worldwide for BioShock. And these are our first offerings for downloadable content. We're excited about the creative opportunity. We are very excited about the profit potential and we'll see how these things roll out. I think the entire industry is focused in this area," he said.
Beyond downloadable content, Zelnick sees subscriptions as a major focus for the industry. Activision Blizzard has already talked about the possibility of using subscriptions for music in Guitar Hero, and of course subscriptions are huge for Blizzard's World of Warcraft, but we're not sure how Take-Two intends to apply this business model just yet.
"The holy grail is taking a business, already a very large and successful business that's focused on packaged goods... and turning that into a subscription business or a semi subscription business where we have an ongoing relationship with consumers, giving them products that they want," Zelnick commented. "Who's better positioned to do that than the company that has the top franchises?"
"It's our view that you won't be able to apply a subscription model to mid-tier titles," he continued. "The AAA titles that people really want to have that are really must have are in the best position for this business model."
Comments like that would seem to suggest subscriptions for the GTA and BioShock franchises, but for now all we can do is speculate.
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