Take-Two wants quicker Rockstar Games releases, less content at launch

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has expressed his wish for quicker release dates of Rockstar Games’ titles.

While the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption 2 developer has undoubtedly released a chain of runaway successes, 2K isn’t happy at the speed these releases are coming out.

Zelnick explained that his will to make games release sooner would result in less content on launch. Instead of being the full, expansive titles that Rockstar has always delivered, the game would focus on providing post-launch content.

“It’s possible that games may be a bit shorter than they were in certain instances,” Zelnick told GamesIndustry.biz. ”

“It’s possible that the ability to deliver content on an ongoing basis for a long time after an initial release of a hit would mean that perhaps that initial release wouldn’t be as long in terms of number of hours of gameplay as previously had been demanded in a world where that was all you were getting.”

It’s no secret that Take-Two hasn’t been solidified as a consistent AAA developer like Activision or EA. While the company’s 2K sports games do release on an annual timeline, even if they do introduce egregious in-game ads, those games are really the publisher’s only consistent titles.

Many gamers have represented their upset at Rockstar Games’ long development times, especially since a number of their IPs have been seemingly abandoned in recent years. However, despite their long development time, they have always released to critical and commercial success.