One of the biggest and most anticipated games of the year is GTA 6. This new Rockstar game will be coming after more than 10 years since the launch of GTA 5. Rockstar Games developed this highly anticipated title. But according to the CEO of Take-Two, owner of Rockstar Games, in the coming months, all subsidiaries of Take-Two will have a cost reduction program.
After the layoffs within the industry, this kind of message is not very positive for a company that has more than 11,000 active employees, keeping in mind the current state of the whole video game ecosystem.
GTA VI and a strange program implementation
One of the most anticipated games of the year is, without a doubt, GTA 6. The Rockstar Games seal of quality is undeniable. So fans and players are very excited about this upcoming game. The company that owns Rockstar Games is making some weird statements about how they will reduce costs. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has spoken about the last quarter’s earnings and the future of this group. With all that is happening within the industry, this is not a very optimistic way of speaking about cost reduction.
Zelnick said, “Currently working on a significant cost reduction program across our entire business to maximize our margins.” This could mean a lot of things, but all the layoffs that videogame studios have made in the first two months of the year could very much mean the same. Zelnick responded to the allegations of possible layoffs and said the following: “And we always find opportunity there. The hardest thing to do is to lay off colleagues, and we have no current plans.”
What is it all about?
According to Zelnick, the plan is to focus more on the cost of marketing and third-party expenses; they are looking to optimize that to reduce costs. Videogames are getting a lot of changes, and studios are the first ones to suffer the consequences, so this really could affect the development quality of GTA 6.
Rockstar Games launched GTA 5 across three different console generations. Last year, a fiscal report confirmed that GTA 5 sold more than 410 million units across all platforms. This could be replicated, but it is a very difficult task, even for Rockstar Games.
The standards of the studio are rough; this could mean a not-so-comfortable environment to develop one of the most anticipated games ever. Rockstar Games also suffered a huge leak last year that revealed alpha gameplay and videos of the game. But you have to wait and see what the result is.
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