Take-Two Says It Sees "No Pushback" on $70 Games

Take-Two has stated that it has not encountered any significant pushback from consumers regarding the pricing of its games at $70.

As reported by VGC, during the company’s earnings call, one analyst highlighted instances where undisclosed competitors of Take-Two have provided discounts on certain AAA games shortly after their release.

The company's CEO Strauss Zelnick responded that Take-Two is "not seeing a pushback on frontline price." According to him, instead, the company sees that "consumers are seeking to limit their spending by going either to the stuff they really, really care about, blockbusters, or to value and sometimes it could be both."

Take-Two was the first publisher who started selling its games for last-gen consoles at $70, starting with NBA 2K21 in 2020. Other companies including EA, Sony, Activision, Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Microsoft later followed suit. Most recently, Sega stated that it was considering a price raise too.

Marvel's Midnight Suns, released last December, serves as a recent example of a Take-Two game that did not meet expectations. Initially priced at $70 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and $60 on PC, the game experienced underwhelming performance, leading the publisher to discount all versions of the game by 33% just a month after its release.

During an earnings call, Zelnick also commented that the video game industry is a continuously growing sector. While acknowledging that comparisons to the surge in revenue during the pandemic may not be as favorable, he expressed confidence that growth will eventually rebound.

Additionally, he noted the presence of a broader economic downturn at present, which might be influencing consumer spending patterns in the short term.

"The overall tailwinds of the industry will continue. This is a growth business. It will remain the fastest-growing part of the entertainment business for the next 20-plus years. And we will have those tailwinds. Now we still have to deliver in that context, and we intend to. But to torture the metaphor, the wind is at our back," Zelnick said.

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