Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick admitted he's feeling 'nervous' ahead of the GTA 6 launch in November, saying 'I run so scared with regard to all of our releases — just multiply it by a billion this time around.' At the iicon conference in Las Vegas, Zelnick also revealed Zynga has turned into a 'hit creating machine,' explained why GTA avoids product placement deals, and addressed prediction markets as a competitive threat to social casino games.
Part 1
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick admitted that he's wrestling with some nervousness around the long-awaited launch of 'Grand Theft Auto 6' in November, offering a candid view of the pressure surrounding one of the most anticipated video games in history.
Part 2
"We're blessed that we have some of the greatest creative talent on earth working inside the four walls of Take-Two and all of our affiliates. And I've been at this a long time — and I think the minute you stop being nervous is the minute you should probably go do something else," Zelnick said during his conversation at the inaugural Interactive Innovation Conference (iicon) in Las Vegas on April 28.
Part 3
The blunt admission came as Zelnick reflected on the stakes of the upcoming release. "I run so scared with regard to all of our releases — just multiply it by a billion this time around," he told Jennifer Maas, Variety's senior business writer for TV and video games. Rockstar Games' 'GTA 6' is the first new edition to the blockbuster franchise since the 2013 release of 'GTA 5,' which set sales records for Take-Two and continues to generate revenue through GTA Online more than a decade later.