Take-Two, publisher of GTA Online, which is essentially built around micro-transactions, think they’re “under-monetising on a per-user basis”, despite reports of users spending hundreds of millions buying Shark Cards to purchase all manner of items.
Indeed, Take-Two thinks they could do even more with micro-transactions. Speaking in a Cowen & Company media conference call, CEO Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two recently said:
“We are convinced that we are probably from an industry view under-monetising on a per-user basis.There is wood to chop because I think we can do more, and we can do more without interfering with our strategy of being the most creative and our ethical approach, which is delighting consumers. We’re not going to grab the last nickel.”
You can see where this is going, right? Take-Two is currently working alongside Rockstar Games on Red Dead Redemption 2, which is likely to sell by the bucketload, and will feature a heavy online component. If Take-Two is looking to get a bit more aggressive with micro-transactions than it’s going to start right here with a game that is going be massive.
Micro-transactions have rapidly become the norm with the big publishers. Back in 2013, EA said it plans to build micro-transaction into all of its games and in its latest financial conference call revealed huge profits from this area, $1.68 billion in 2017 alone. You can’t blame Take-Two’s eyes lighting up at those sorts of figures! GTA Online’s Shark Cards have been a massive success, so Red Dead Redemption 2 micro-transactions could be even more widespread.
The release of Red Dead Redemption 2 was recently delayed until Spring 2018. At this point, we don’t 100 percent know whether they’ll be a single-player campaign (though we assume so), but the first details confirm a “massive online world” with multiple playable characters.
The first RDR 2 screenshots look amazing!
Source: Gamespot