Take-Two Interactive and 2K Games are facing a class-action lawsuit over the removal of purchased in-game currencies from accounts when a game's online features are taken offline.
09.11.2023 - 17:03 / videogameschronicle.com / Strauss Zelnick
Take-Two has explained why a Grand Theft Auto film or TV show is seemingly unlikely to be announced anytime soon.
Earlier this week, Nintendo revealed that it has partnered with Sony Pictures Entertainment to create a live action The Legend of Zelda movie.
In light of this, during Take-Two’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday, the publisher was asked how willing it—and subsidiary Rockstar Games—are to find ways to extend the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption franchises beyond video games.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said the company is taking a “very, very selective, and very careful” approach to adapting its properties for film or TV.
Borderlands and BioShock movies are currently in the works, and while Zelnick said Take-Two is “discussing” further adaptations, the company is wary of the damage a misfire could to its brands.
“If we were willing to use the company’s balance sheet to make a movie or a television show, then in the event of great success we would benefit from it,” he said. “But we’re not prepared to use the company’s balance sheet that way because the risk/reward profile is unappealing to us.
“They’re very difficult businesses,” continued Zelnick, who previously spent four years as president and chief operating officer of 20th Century Fox, and also served as vice president of international television for Columbia Pictures. “I’ve been in them successfully, they’re super challenging, they’re not what we do. We much prefer the risk/reward profile of the business that we’re in.
“So that means that the only way we can be in that business is through a license arrangement with a third party. And let’s put it in context. Mattel said that their expected profits from licensing the Barbie IP for a movie would be about $125 million. Now, Barbie is a massive, massive hit, it’s an extraordinary hit, so you don’t want to posit a massive hit and look at the numbers that way.
“Even in a really good news scenario, the license fees would be a fraction thereof for many of our properties, not really enough to be meaningful here. And we have to weigh that too against the risk of failure. And the hit ratios in the motion picture business are vastly lower than they are in the interactive entertainment business.
“Our hit ratios for console properties here are in the 80s or 90 percent. The hit ratio for a well-run movie studio is around 30%, which is to say there’s a 70% chance that the movie that we license could fail.
“And so, in success, the number in terms of the benefit to our bottom line is, it’s not de minimis, it’s not zero, but it’s not really material to what we do around here. And in failure, we run the risk of compromising the underlying intellectual property, so it’s a high bar.”
A Borderlands feature
Take-Two Interactive and 2K Games are facing a class-action lawsuit over the removal of purchased in-game currencies from accounts when a game's online features are taken offline.
Take-Two Interactive and 2K Games are facing a class action lawsuit accusing the company of theft and unlawful business practices, due to virtual currency becoming non-transferrable in its games once servers for previous titles are deactivated.
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From The Last of Us and God of War to Mario and The Legend of Zelda (to name just a few), there has been no shortage of major gaming properties that are being adapted as TV shows or movies. And at a time where it feels like it’s only a matter of time before most major gaming franchises get snapped up for similar adaptations, it’s only natural to wonder when we’ll be seeing a Grand Theft Auto film.
Two of the biggest bits of videogame news to come along this week were Nintendo's announcement of a live-action Zelda movie, and Rockstar's promise of a proper Grand Theft Auto 6 reveal in December. That might naturally lead your wandering thoughts to wonder when Take-Two Interactive will get around to making the Grand Theft Auto-based Hollywood blockbuster that's such an obvious, almost obligatory, project.
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