Take-Two CEO Refuses To Put Games On Game Pass Because It Makes “Rational Decisions”

In a new interview with GamesIndustry, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick remarked that it has no interest in bringing its games to Game Pass. The dev mentions that even Xbox bringing Call of Duty into the service and pushing consumers to use it for a longer time does not affect Take-Two’s strategy because “its decisions are rational.” It makes sense when you consider that Take-Two is already too successful for Game Pass. 

I think that offering a frontline title with a premium price in a subscription service, day and date, will push consumers to that subscription service for at least a period of time. […] No, it won’t affect our decisions. Because our decisions are rational,” says Take-Two CEO.

Strauss also touches on Take-Two’s current strategy and how it plans to move forward in the changing industry. The cost reduction program—previously talked about by the CEO—has now been put into action to turn Take-Two into the “most efficient entertainment company.” As a result, the devs are focused on a small pipeline of games they think will be the most successful.

We have a three-part strategy, which is to be the most creative, most innovative and most efficient entertainment company. And we just tuned up that efficiency further. […] We have narrowed down the pipeline to focus on the titles that we think will be the most successful.”

Take-Two Is Too Big To Need Xbox Game Pass

I think it’s fair to claim that Take-Two boasts a highly successful portfolio of gaming franchises that negates the need to put its games on the Xbox subscription service. While Game Pass might not benefit Take-Two, many smaller and medium-sized studios have reached new heights by bringing their projects there. A large chunk of players in AA games originally come from subscription services, after all.

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Take-Two’s Rockstar Games is currently working on GTA 6, the industry’s most anticipated entry. It is set to release in fall 2025 for consoles, but no exact release date has yet been shared.