Take-Two Claims Microsoft's Activision Deal is 'a Good Thing for the Industry'
The CEO of Take-Two Interactive has nothing against Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. He even thinks it will be good for the entire industry.
Microsoft's planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard is sparking great excitement. It turns out that one of the industry's largest publishers has no problem with it.
- Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick stated in the interview that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard will be good for both the latter company and the gaming industry as a whole.
- Zelnick stresses that the Redmond giant is not fully in competition with his company. True, the two publishers compete in game sales, but they also cooperate a lot, so from this perspective, strengthening Microsoft will also benefit Take-Two Interactive.
- Furthermore, Zelnick stressed that this industry revolves around creativity. According to him, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters are games, and if Take-Two Interactive produces great items, customers will buy them, and nothing can change that.
Of course, it's easy for Zelnick to say so, since Take-Two Interactive has a very strong library of popular brands, such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, NBA2K, BioShock, XCOM or Civilization. Smaller publishers, deprived of such recognizable series, may be more anxious about the ongoing consolidation of the industry.
Recall that Microsoft announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard earlier this year. For now, the company is trying to get approvals from the relevant national regulatory authorities. So far, the deal has been greenliy by Saudi Arabia and Brazil.
A decision has not yet been made by authorities in the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union. Sony is trying to hinder the takeover. In early October PlayStation's chief executive, Jim Ryan, was scheduled to go to the European Parliament to express his concerns about the deal.
