Red Dead Redemption publisher Take-Two Interactive has suggested that it is highly unlikely that any more of its games will be adapted into films in its most recent earnings call.
An analyst, who referred to the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Last of Us TV show, asked whether or not Take-Two Interactive would be interested in investing in any more adaptations of its intellectual properties. Presently, the company has two films based on its games in the works – Borderlands and BioShock.
“We think it’s probably a relatively small opportunity, economically,” replied CEO Strauss Zelnick. “Those are typically very challenged asset classes with which I’m quite familiar. And in pointing out two successes, notable as they may be, lies the fact that there are many, many failures where money was lost.”
Prior to Take-Two Interactive, Zelnick was employed at Columbia Pictures Television, starting as a vice president for television international sales in 1983 and becoming the company’s president in 1988. Then, he worked for 20th Century Fox as its president and CEO for four years.
After that, he was recruited to Crystal Dynamics, and then became the CEO of Take-Two Interactive following an investor-staged takeover of the company in 2007.
“We’re excited about [the Borderlands and BioShock films] and selectively we could see licensing in the future when there’s a creative imperative and an economic opportunity,” Zelnick continued.
Describing the entertainment industry as a “really hard business”, he explained that it is not in Take-Two Interactive’s interest to take unnecessary risks. “We’re not going to bet this company’s future or the value of our intellectual property based on someone else’s execution in another area of the entertainment business,” he said.
“So, we’ll continue to be very selective indeed,” Zelnick concluded. “Even if we did take a broad-based approach in the absence of investing ourselves, the economic opportunity in the context of the much greater economic opportunity for our core business is limited.”
As such, it is improbable that the company would turn its attention to adapting properties like Red Dead Redemption, Mafia, Bully or even the cash cow that is Grand Theft Auto for the silver screen.
In other gaming news, Larian Studios has addressed about 300 crashes, blockers, and bugs in Baldur’s Gate 3, including wardrobe malfunctions for gnome sorcerers.