It looks like the success of titles like NBA 2K and Grand Theft Auto V has resulted in some core business changes over at Take-Two Interactive. During the publisher's most recent earnings call, its CEO confirmed plans to bring micro-transactions to all games going forward. This may not arrive in the form of a multiplayer online component as we saw in GTA V, but an increased push for additional spending beyond the initial game purchase will be present.
During the investors call, Take-Two CEO, Strauss Zelnick said: “We aim to have recurrent consumer spending options 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'll be some ability to engage on an ongoing basis with our titles after release across the board.”
Zelnick added that this is a big change for the publisher's business. However, since microtransactions made up 42 percent of the company's revenue last quarter, it wants to keep pushing in that direction.
“The business that once upon a time was a big, chunky opportunity to engage for tens of hours, or perhaps 100 hours, 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.”
This isn't particularly surprising news, after all, GTA V is still bringing in tons of cash years after its original 2013 launch. We have also seen other publishers placing a bigger emphasis on micro-transactions, with Ubisoft, EA and Activision also including them in most titles.
KitGuru Says: I'm not the biggest fan of micro-transactions but I'd be lying if I said I'd never engaged in them. That is unfortunately the problem, nobody likes having to spend extra cash, but so many people are willing to do it at this point that it is impossible for publishers turn down the opportunity.
Let’s see if people can still stick by the mantra not to pay in this case; I doubt people will stop buying GTA just because it has microtransactions.
I think I won’t buy another GTA, the story was good but you soon saw what the Online part was all about: new stuff coming out every other month you couldn’t purchase because it was way too overpriced so you had to grind for weeks or buy ingame cash. I mean yes, you don’t have to pay to play if you already got the main game but if you want to get new stuff then there is no way around it.
Or just find a hacker lobby and get millions for free ^^
Frankly I’m amazed T2 are opting for this microtransaction model when they have not invested in any anticheat. Cheaters must have added trillions of ingame dollars into GTA Online and that value in shark cards is pretty big…
Yea no I personally will not buy into buying in game crap. I play the game finish it and move on to the next game. The only reason I stayed playing GTA V after finishing it was because of the vast world and the fun of wreaking havoc just for the fun of it.
I said a lonf time ago and been repeating it over and over if people buy into this crap then all games will have it. The next step after this will be that if you want to finish a game you will be forced to buy the extra crap. Problem is if you spend $50-$100 bucks on a game you had better be able to finish it without spending more on it after.
I decided to just play other games. And yes, that’s possible but you have to use the money instantly because T2 will take it away if they find out it’s hacked