Like most other major game companies, Take-Two is part of a recent string of vibrant acquisitions across the industry. Their Zynga acquisition is expected to close at the end of the month, and their Private Division label founded Roll7 late last year. But what about Take-Two itself? Is it possible that it, like a major publisher like Activision-Blizzard, could be acquired by a larger game corporation?
That seems unlikely for now, based on comments made by CEO Strauss Zelnick in an interview ahead of today’s full-year and quarterly earnings call.
“We are a public company and we are here for the shareholders,” he told IGN. “That said, our track record in creating value as an independent business is pretty amazing, especially if you exclude the last three months. We think there’s plenty of time left. great points ahead and we want to be an independent organization. But we are here for Shareholders.”
Zelnick also gives some context to the publisher’s recent Zynga and Roll7 acquisitions. He acknowledged the reality of industry consolidation, especially over the past six months. But he added that the increase in overall registrar acquisitions would not change anything for Take-Two, whose growth he said was “largely natural.” but “there were some selective acquisitions in the making.”
“We are looking for innovative deals that bring us great intellectual property and great teams, and we will continue to do so in the future,” he said. “There is no doubt that the Zynga transaction is extremely important to this company and we have a lot of work to do together to ensure that we deliver value and the focus will largely be on growth.” organic growth going forward, but that won’t stop us from continuing to make selective and disciplined acquisitions of the Private Sector and the rest of the business, including the mobile division of the business. Karma. “
Zelnick also spoke to us on a number of other topics, including the possibility of Take-Two getting a FIFA license after EA and FIFA broke up, and Fans’ frustration with the state of Red Dead Online.
Looking ahead, Take-Two is planning 18 new releases over the upcoming financial year, including core titles The Quarry, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, NBA 2K23, WWE 2K23, PGA Tour 2K23, and Kerbal Space Program 2. There are also eight upcoming mobile games, a new sports title from 2K (maybe its NFL arcade game), a new franchise from Private Division, Tales from the Borderlands 2, and “a new version of the previously released title available for purchase”.
Rebekah Valentine is an IGN news reporter. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
