Take-Two CEO Suggests That Not All of the Publisher’s Next-Gen Titles Will Receive a Price Jump; Doesn’t Expect Lower Demand

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has implied that not all of the publisher’s next-gen titles will be priced higher than its current-gen games.

During the publisher’s most recent financial earnings call, Zelnick was asked about the recently announced higher price point for the next-gen versions of NBA 2K21 – a price jump that is said to be necessary due to greatly-increased development costs and global inflation.

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During the call with investors, the CEO was asked whether the higher price applies to all of Take-Two’s upcoming next-gen games. According to Zelnick, this won’t necessarily be the case as pricing will be decided on a title-by-title basis.

“Yes, we’re definitely announcing pricing on a title by title basis”, Zelnick said. “I would just observe there hasn’t been a frontline price increase for a very long time although costs have increased significantly. But most importantly we believe we’re delivering the highest-quality titles in the business and consumers are staying more engaged than ever. Games have extraordinary playability and replayability and they offer many, many hours of entertainment. We think it’s a great value. It does rely on our continuing to deliver amazing experiences and that’s our strategy and our goal.”

Later in the call, the CEO was also asked about the possibility of consumer demand going down due to the higher price.

“In terms of the price point, this is a very modest price increase. The pricing has been going down on a real dollar basis for the better part of 15 years. And we’re applying this price point in the case where we think the quality not only supports it but demands it. Our production costs have gone up greatly. But most importantly, the consumer experience is more robust than ever before. And I am utterly convinced that NBA 2K ’21 will be nothing short of extraordinary. So I don’t expect that there will be any concerns.”

What are your thoughts on the price jump for the next-gen titles? Do you agree that an increase is needed? Will you still be buying as many titles? Hit the comments below.