Why doesn’t Rockstar release a new GTA game every year?

Take-Two Talks

Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two, has opened up about why it does not annualise the release its biggest titles like Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, and Red Dead Redemption.

Talking at MKM Partners Investor Day in New York City (via Gamespot), Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick stated that annual releases can “[burn] off your intellectual property” and reduce demand and quality, reducing their capacity to be “massive consumer events”.

“The market asks us, ‘Why don’t you annualize your titles?’ We think with the non-sports titles, we are better served to create anticipation and demand,” said Zelnick. “On the one hand to rest the title, and, on the other hand, to have the highest quality in the market, which takes time. You can’t do that annually.”

“What we would like to do is be able to have enough hit intellectual properties in any given year, whether we have Title A or Title B, is not the issue,” he said. “We’ll have a handful of really great franchises and new intellectual properties that together really have the economic impact of an annualized business without the detriments of an annualized business.”

Although there was no news on any upcoming new releases, Zelnick did tell the conference that Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption were considered “permanent franchises” and confirmed that the BioShock series remains “unquestionably” important to the company. 

Do you agree that Take-Two should keep their focus on quality, or would you love to see these series’ released annually (or even once every couple of years)? You know what to do… *points to comments*