Take-Two doesn’t want to see their games on Game Pass when they launch

Take-Two doesn’t see any sense in that, but that’s because its business model is already well established.

Image Credit: Rockstar

He is in an interview in Jamespot That Strauss Zelnick, Director of Take-Two has returned to Game Pass and an interest in whether or not to broadcast a game there when it launches. “Our view has not changed. We think subscription can be useful for older games in the catalog. But that doesn’t make sense for titles.”

Read also: 150 million sales of GTA V

Strauss Zelnick preaches to his diocese, however, Rockstar’s situation is quite different from many of the publishers out there on Game Pass. Take-Two’s business model is more profitable by making unit sales for goodwill. When you release Take-Two GTA, it is guaranteed to reach millions of players. Neither Red Dead Redemption nor GTA has anything to prove and they are definitely planetary chests. On the other hand, when a small, little-known Swedish studio makes The Ascent, or when Square Enix Outriders launches out of nowhere, it’s hard to attract public trust and convert it into a purchase.

If GTA didn’t need a Game Pass, it was quite the opposite for The Ascent and Outriders which was its starting point.

On the contrary, games like The Ascent or Outriders that are not guaranteed to sell have an interest in being widely distributed so that the audience can realize their quality while playing. After that, Game Pass takes all of its favors for these studios, including a financial thanks from a lump sum from Microsoft that guarantees them to pay off a portion of the development. It’s always better than making a few thousand sales and seeing your game on a par. Microsoft somehow mitigates the risk to smaller publishers.

Finally, you’ll say that RDR2 was available on Game Pass, but that still goes into Strauss Zelnick’s comments. It’s become an old game in the Take-Two catalog and has pretty much paid for, not to mention that online play isn’t as high as GTA. You might also take extra money provided by Microsoft, and put it into Game Pass in order to get to the last of the fanatics.