Take-Two is completely embracing the dreaded “games-as-a-service” model by planning to have some kind of micro-transactions or “consumer spending” in all their future releases.
The news comes via their latest earnings call to investors (via Seeking Alpha), where they confirmed they will release all future games with “recurrent consumer spending” and “some ability to engage on an ongoing basis.”
Company CEO Strauss Zelnick pointed to Grand Theft Auto V as the best example to justify this new direction for the developer. He briefly noted the upcoming Red Dead Redemption II (pictured) will have an “online component,” to which he elaborated:
“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.
“That’s a sea change in our business. Recurrent consumer spending is 42% of our net bookings in the quarter. It’s been transformative for us, and the only reason it’s transformative for us is because it’s transformative to our consumers. 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.”
Red Dead Redemption II is launching sometime in the second quarter of next year.