Take-Two CEO's Bonuses Are Now Even More Tied to Microtransactions

Strauss Zelnick's contract with Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of NBA 2K and Grand Theft Auto, was extended until 2029. CEO's pay will now be more dependent on bonuses through in-game microtransactions which may include the sale of NFTs.

The executive's promotional bonuses have always been partly tied to players' spending on DLC and microtransactions, and in the new contract, they depend on it even more.

As spotted by Axios, the contract extension reads that Zelnick's bonuses will be tied to "recurrent consumer spending" which involves the sale of virtual currency, add-on content, microtransactions, NFTs, and game-related subscriptions.

Zelnick has previously said that Take-Two will likely find a place for non-fungible tokens in its catalog, but speculation worries him.

"We want to make sure that consumers always have a good experience every time they engage with our properties. And losing money on a speculation is not a good experience, so we're going to stay away from speculation," he said in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz in February. "However, we're highly convinced there's an opportunity for NFTs to fit with Take-Two's offerings in the future."

Take-Two's desire to make players spend more and more on in-game purchases has never been a secret. Microtransactions in its top titles like NBA 2K and GTA Online have become a great source of revenue for the company. In the last quarter of 2021, Take-Two generated $548 million in recurrent consumer spending.

You can find the SEC filing with Zelnick's contract extension here. Also, don't forget to join our new Reddit page, our new Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are sharing breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.