Strauss Zelnick: Switching to next gen will cause casualties
Take-Two boss doesn't think all publishers will make the transition
Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has told listeners at the Credit Suisse 2012 Technology Conference in Scottsdale Arizona that he doesn't believe that every third-party publisher will survive the jump to the next console generation.
"If you're not capitalized for the transition, you can find out that you're not there for the transition," GameSpot reports Zelnick telling the crowd.
"And historically, in every transition that's occurred in this business, one or two third-parties have gone out of business. Last time around it was Midway and a couple of others. Reasonable people can argue about which one it'll be this time. I have my own point of view, which I haven't exactly been quiet about. We make sure we're not on the list of casualties; to the contrary, we're on the list of winners."
Although a Take-Two spokesperson was keen to point out that no individual companies had been named by Mr Zelnick , the CEO's "point of view" is likely to refer to his prediction of the end of THQ, which he argued would be out of business within six months in April this year.
THQ has proven him wrong, but continues to struggle with the financial realities of the current market, delaying its catalogue, defaulting on a $50 million loan and losing key executives.