Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick supported Microsoft's decision to acquire Activision. He is not afraid of competition in the video game industry

By: Vladyslav Nuzhnov | 12.10.2022, 11:40

In an interview with Yahoo, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick supported Microsoft's decision to acquire Activision Blizzard. He does not see any problem in this deal.

Here's What We Know

The fact is that Zelnick does not see competition as a threat. On the contrary, he sees Microsoft as an ally and the acquisition of Activision as a good step for the gaming industry as a whole.

Here's What Strauss Said:

"Ultimately the consumer votes, and if we create great hits, which is our business, then consumers will show up, and no one can take that away from us"

"The entertainment business is the antithesis of a fungible commoditized business. Every title stands alone. So it sort of doesn’t compete with anything else and yet, it’s highly competitive in a way. In other words, we compete with everything and we compete with nothing. You can’t replace one of our titles with another title"

Zelnick explained that he wants Take-Two to continue to be able to absorb losses and survive in the current environment, rather than compete with everyone:

"Now and then, you have a bad year in the entertainment business. You have to be capitalized well enough to withstand that and give your teams confidence that they’re gonna live to play another bet"."

Flashback

In January, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard - the creators of Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft and other franchises. The transaction value is $68.7 billion, which is significantly more than the $7.5 billion that Microsoft spent on the acquisition of Bethesda back in 2020. The deal is the largest in the history of the gaming industry. The deal is planned to close in 2023.

Source: yahoo