author: Adrian Piotrowski
Take-Two CEO Says AAA Games Should be Polished Before Release
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick spoke out on the recent controversy caused by the failed launch of Cyberpunk 2077, among other things, and praised Rockstar Games' workflow.
Take-Two Interactive CEO, Strauss Zelnick, who is most famous for a series of controversial opinions, this time spoke out on the subject of releasing games too quickly. During a meeting with investors, one of the analysts touched upon the discussion that has recently emerged in the industry on the hasty development of AAA games and stated that their publishing schedule has begun to resemble a race. He also referred to "a rival studio's work that didn't live up to the hype," most likely CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077. Zelnick answered as follows:
"I think the case that you're alluding to reflects the fact that you're always better served to wait for perfection if you can create perfection. And all of our labels are seeking perfection. And we don't always succeed, sometimes we fall short. But that's the goal. […]
So yes right and it's great that Rockstar Games continues to put out add-on content and additional content for Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online.But they've put out material that they really believe in that they're passionate about and that is of the highest possible quality. And that means we're not on a weekly cadence and we're not going to be in that means we don't necessarily know the exact release date. But what we do know is that we will wait for it to be as close to perfect as anything can be."
Take-Two's CEO isn't the first person from the game dev community to speak out about big companies releasing their games in poor technical condition. A few days ago, Moon Studios CEO, Thomas Mahler commented on the Cyberpunk 2077 controversy in more unsophisticated words.
Take-Two announced today that 20 million people bought Grand Theft Auto V in 2020, and reiterated its plan to release 93 games in five years.