‘If anyone deserves to be independent, we do’: Take-Two CEO has no interest in being acquired by Netflix or anyone else
Strauss Zelnick says Rockstar’s parent company isn’t for sale
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says there’s currently no interest in selling the company to Netflix or anyone else.
In an interview with CNBC, Zelnick was asked about the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 ‘Extended Look’, which is coming to Netflix later this month, and what this meant for Netflix‘s ongoing gaming strategy.
“They’ve hired some talented, experienced interactive entertainment executives,” Zelnick replied, “and we’ve made a bunch of deals with them, we’ve distributed many titles on the Netflix platform.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that their goal is to have as many subscribers as they can, and they want to deliver the best entertainment to those subscribers, so it stands to reason that they would make their way into the [gaming] business. How they do that…”
Zelnick was then interrupted by host Andrew Ross Sorkin, who asked if he felt Netflix had to buy a company to make more progress in the video game space, suggesting that maybe it could buy Take-Two.
He replied that Netflix isn’t traditionally a company that makes big acquisitions anyway, and even if it was interested in acquiring Take-Two, it’s not something his company necessarily wants.
“So, you’ll have to ask [co-CEOs] Ted [Sarandos] and Greg [Peters], not me, about where they want to go with that,” Zelnick replied. “I think historically Netflix has not made big acquisitions. They’ve grown organically, they’ve done a great job at it.
“As far as us, I don’t know. I think we’re very proud of the way we built this company independently. We’re now the largest pure play that’s public in the space worldwide.
“We expect to have over $8 billion in revenue this year. We generate profits year in, year out. I don’t mean to imply that that’s easy or even predictable. We have to get up every morning and do it.
“But I think if anyone deserves to be an independent company, we do.”
Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look premieres on Netflix on August 27, at 12pm PT / 3pm ET / 8pm BST.
It will also launch on the Rockstar Games YouTube channel and the GTA 6 website six hours later, at 6pm PT / 9pm BT / 2am BST.
