Remember the days when developers– and, more specifically, their leadership– respected gamers? Those were good times…
Times long gone, apparently, because Take-Two Interactive’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, has come out and said that games should be charged by the hour of play.
No, I am not joking.
It has been said by Chieftain and plenty of other game industry professionals that video games are severely underpriced for the comparative cost of production. This has, of course, caused some… tension when there are discussions, because of the divisiveness of this issue and the reasons behind them.
“By-The-Hour” play is, suffice to say, an interesting opinion. It makes sense from a business perspective: Maximize profits by charging a subscription-like service for your 40+ hour game. With that being said, completionists, casuals, and die-hards quickly saw that the price would be too steep to continue their pursuits. In this economy, when hobbies are a luxury we try to afford and make time to enjoy, it quickly loses its charm. That’s not to mention that many games hardly seem worth the “regular price” as it is and some games are played for literal decades by fans.
That also doesn’t even touch upon the fact that many CEOs are so out of touch with their customer base that they say tone deaf, bullshit comments in public forums and will suffer no consequences with their golden parachutes (coughToddHowardcough).
Do I think this proposal is an active threat? No. Do I think it should be ignored? Hell no. The rise in public relation faux pas by development leadership is almost as insulting as piss-poor game releases. Don’t let these people talk in public if this is how they represent your company. It’s a bad look.
Other Topics Discussed on This Live…
- HIRO RUNNING THE SHOW TONIGHT…
- Leads to…fun (in the form of no audio for the first 10 minutes)
- MAYACONDIOS GUEST APPEARANCE
- DAILY WIRE DRAMA?!?!
- Candace tweeted a Bible Verse that seemed to trigger Ben Shapiro
- The two are going back and forth on X (Twitter)
- Candace did an interview with Tucker Carlson, fueling Shapiro’s ire
- PETER CULLEN GETS A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD!
- The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) has announced that award-winning voice actor Peter Cullen will be the Lifetime Achievement Honoree at the 2nd Annual Children’s & Family Emmy® Awards
- Read the Article
- “He voiced your childhood, essentially,” BlackLightOni
- RICK AND MORTY DOESN’T SEEM OK!
- The new season is not doing well and getting pilloried
- There’s a brief review of reason behind change in show and the double standard that exists
- MayaConDios wonders if it’s a perception thing, “it’s not terrible, but it’s not right, either.”
- IT’S FINALLY OK TO HATE ON THE MCU!?!? THE MARVELS BOMBED
- Performing worse than The Flash, $47 million on opening weekend
- Everyone agrees that movie mediocrity is the reason these movies are failing, despite Hollywood claims
- ANNOUNCING THE LAGGIN’ OUT PODCAST: THE RETURN OF ERIC JULY
To see the Live stream, check out the following link. The Take-Two discussion begins around the 2 hour 28 minute mark.
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