Zelnick: "In five years packaged goods will still dominate"

Take-Two chairman (and soon to be CEO) Strauss Zelnick has laid out his vision of the publisher's future.

The switch to digital distribution will be gradual, he argued to Reuters, only growing from its current 10 per cent share of revenue to 25-30 per cent "over time."

The biggest opportunities would remain in traditional retail, he felt. "I still think in five years the packaged goods business will dominate. It's kind of irrelevant to us -- basically the same gross margin, basically the same risk."

After a troubled few years, Zelnick was confident about the publisher's performance, suggesting it was no longer dependent on Grand Theft Auto. "We don't have any structural impediment to being profitable in a given year."

Zelnick claimed that Take-Two would avoid giving its franchises annual releases, for fear of quality loss and consumer ennui. He also suggested that its licensing deal with Major League Baseball might be put on hold. "It's a losing proposition and we don't have any interest in pursuing losing propositions."