Video game companies are being acquired by bigger video game companies at a frightening pace, but it sounds like Rockstar and 2K parent company Take-Two Interactive will remain independent for the time being.
In an interview with IGN, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick expressed some hesitation about a buyout in general while acknowledging that the interests of the company's shareholders are most important.
"We're a public company, and we're here for the shareholders," Zelnick said. "That said, our track record of creating value as an independent enterprise is pretty terrific, especially if you exclude the last three months. We think there's plenty of great times ahead, and we like being an independent organization. But we're here for the shareholders."
- The years-long GTA 6 debate over what happens to GTA Online has been addressed by Take-Two's CEO: "We've shown a willingness to support legacy titles when a community wants to be engaged with them"
- Ubisoft "won't comment" on reports of Tencent buyout, only says it's "exploring different options" and "will inform the market if and when a transaction materializes"
Take-Two itself recently acquired mobile developer Zynga for an earth-shattering $12.7 billion, which had been the biggest acquisition in the video game industry until Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion. At around the same time Take-Two bought Zynga, Sony announced that it's purchasing Destiny 2 developer and Halo creator Bungie for $3.6 billon.
Elsewhere in the IGN interview, Zelnick offered that Zynga likely won't be the last company to be acquired by Take-Two. "We're looking for creative deals that bring us great intellectual property and great teams, and we'll continue to do that in the future," he said.
In other news from the company, Take-Two revealed today that it plans on doubling its rollout of big games over the next year, and it sounds like there will be more Tiny Tina's Wonderlands games in the future.
