An executive from game-publishing giant Take-Two Interactive explained why the company does not release some of its games on an annual basis.
According to the company, this is a strategic move to keep gamers excited for the next installment of their favorite franchise and to spread out the company's releases, Examiner reported.
Unlike its other major competitors, such as Ubisoft and Activision, which seem to release new "Assassin's Creed" and "Call of Duty" titles every year, Take-Two prefers to skip years when it comes to the release of some of its titles.
This move mainly applies to its action-themed games such as "Max Payne," "Grand Theft Auto" and "Red Dead Redemption." Its sports titles, however, like "NBA 2K" and "WWE 2K," cater to a slightly different type of market which is why it would be better for these games to come out annually.
As explained by Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick during the MKM Partners Investor Day held in New York City recently, the company avoids launching new action games each year to prevent their value from diminishing.
"The market asks us, 'Why don't you annualize your titles?'" he said during the event according to Gamespot. "We think with non-sport titles, we are better served to create anticipation and demand. On the one hand to rest the title and on the other hand to have the highest quality in the market, which takes time."
"You can't do that annually," he continued.
Zelnick also noted that through this strategy, Take-Two will be able to deliver games from various successful installments to the gaming community for each year.
"What we would like to do is be able to have enough hit intellectual properties in any given year, whether we have Title A or Title B, is not the issue," the executive explained. "We'll have a handful of really great franchises and new intellectual properties that together really have the economic impact of an annualized business without the detriments of an annualized business."
Based on Zelnick's statements, it seems it's safe to assume that the next installment in the "GTA" series, namely "Grand Theft Auto IV," could come out next year, since the franchise's fifth main game came out in 2014 for consoles and the PC platform.
However, as suggested by rumors, fans of the series may have to wait a bit longer before they can play the next "Grand Theft Auto" game. According to various sources, "Grand Theft Auto 6" is rumored to come out in 2019, Inquisitr has learned.
Take-Two and "GTA" developer Rockstar Games have not yet clarified these rumors which means this release period could still change.
