Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick had a quibble to pick during the company's annual virtual shareholder meeting GamesRadar+ attended on September 17. Sounding like bajillions of GTA 6 fans around the globe, an investor expressed frustration with Take-Two’s growing history of delays – but Zelnick squashes the suggestions that Take-Two is incompetent.
Zelnick reads the following offending question out loud during the shareholder meeting: "Many shareholders have tolerated years of delays, missed expectations, and continued dependence on a small number of major franchises. If these issues persist, does the board believe that the current management team remains the right group to lead the company, or is prepared to replace senior executives if operational performance and shareholder value creation do not improve?" The CEO agrees that if Take-Two's management team were found lacking by its board, then yes, that team would be replaced.
"I would, however, quibble with your characterization in the question," Zelnick continues. It's true that GTA 5 released in September of 2013, exactly 13 long years ago. And sure, GTA 6 has been delayed twice since it was officially confirmed in 2023, but its latest release date, November 19, is now looming. Zelnick doesn't think investors quite understand what Take-Two management had to do to get to this point.
"When this management team took over the company in March of '07," Zelnick says, "the revenue of the company was under a billion dollars. The company was under investigation by at least four government entities, had not filed annual reports in 13 months, and had not scheduled an annual meeting, despite obligations to do so. They had one major franchise in GTA. The rest of the business was losing money, and the company was very nearly bankrupt."
Take-Two's current managers pulled the company back from the edge, Zelnick argues, leading us to our current reality where "the company's revenue is guided to be between 8 and 8.2 billion dollars this year." Later, the CEO makes a point to mention "that GTA 5 launched in 2013, and unlike most titles, remained a top five selling title for 13 years. So GTA is a different kind of experience." Get with it, or get over it.
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