Take-Two CEO claims that Xbox will do "very well" against PS5

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has said that he expects Xbox to do well against PlayStation in the upcoming ninth generation of consoles.

In an interview with Protocol, the GTA publisher expressed his opinion on Microsoft’s offerings for next-gen, citing the console manufacturer’s “aggressive” tactics as a good starting point for the generation.

“So far it looks to me as though they’re both approaching this launch very aggressively. We’ve always worked happily with both parties. We would like to see both be very successful,” Zelnick said.

“In certain parts of the world, as you know, Sony had a preferred position last time around. I think Microsoft is working very, very hard to see that that’s not repeated. I think it will be a challenge in Asia, where Sony’s dominated. But if I had to guess, I think Microsoft is going to do very well.”

While Sony has been very focused on its launch lineup and marketing, Microsoft has started to acquire and expand Xbox Game Studios developers to create a collective of talented teams that will create projects in the future, something Zelnick believes gives them balance

“I think you’re going to see that [Sony] will be very aggressive on the content side and on the marketing side. They are going to focus, as they always do, on aiming at an advantage on the content side,” the Take-Two continued.

“Microsoft’s trying to do the same thing; as you know, Microsoft has bought some studios. There’s a lot of stuff that they own and control. Perhaps they’ll do more of that. They have a great balance sheet.”

Despite Xbox’s large focus on services like Xbox Game Pass and Xbox All Access, Zelnick doesn’t think that these services will help unit sales too much against PlayStation in the next generation.

“Front-line products are incredibly valuable, and Take-Two’s front-line products are frankly and actually the most valuable in the business. We have the highest hit ratio in the business. We have the best-performing titles in the business, and we will be selective about what business models work for us,” said the Take-Two.