With current rumors swirling across the potential for a successor to the Nintendo Switch, many followers and builders have been involved a couple of potential lack of backward compatibility for such a console. And whereas the decision hasn’t fairly been delivered on whether or not or not a “Switch 2” would have the characteristic, one main writer would not appear too involved concerning the prospect: Take-Two Interactive.
Speaking to IGN forward of the corporate’s Q1 earnings announcement, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that he felt backwards compatibility was “a profit to shoppers.” However, he added that he’d “be shocked if platforms did not supply that with an improve that’s form of mid-cycle, nonetheless I’m not sure it is a must-have.”
Zelnick’s response was a curious one – my preliminary query had talked about upcoming rumored console upgrades (particularly rumors of a PS5 Pro), however had honed in on asking a couple of Nintendo Switch successor particularly. So I adopted up by asking him if he thought of the Nintendo Switch to be “mid-cycle.”
Zelnick replied: “Remains to be seen.”
Now, an imminent successor to the Switch continues to be absolutely within the “rumor” part, even when these rumors are steadily rising extra credible, so it is comprehensible that Zelnick is not serious about saying something which may by accident reveal specifics of a brand new console earlier than Nintendo has one thing to say about it. But I did ask him if Take-Two can be an early supporter of a brand new Nintendo system as they had been with the Nintendo Switch, to which he replied, “virtually actually.”
If dev kits are certainly within the wild, Take-Two would possible be one of many first corporations to have them in hand, which means that no matter is happening with the Switch, Take-Two is probably going poised to have video games of some form within the chamber for no matter Nintendo has cooking subsequent. Backward compatibility or no. It’s additionally value noting that Take-Two and Rockstar had been not too long ago criticized by followers for the announcement of Red Dead Redemption on Switch and PS4 at a $50 value level. The sport is already obtainable on trendy Xbox consoles by way of backward compatibility for simply $30, and that model runs in 4K.
Take-Two’s Q1 earnings revealed that Grand Theft Auto 5 has as soon as once more bought one other 5 million copies, bringing it to a grand complete of over 185 million lifetime unit gross sales. Red Dead Redemption 2 has achieved over 55 million items, and NBA2K23 has bought over 13 million, making it the second-highest promoting NBA 2K sport after NBA 2K20.
In complete, the corporate posted web bookings for the quarter of $1.2 billion (up 20% year-over-year) and is getting ready to launch three “immersive core video games” this yr, together with NBA 2K24, WWE 2K24, and one unnamed title coming late within the fiscal yr. The writer continues to trace at preparations for an enormous following yr in fiscal 2025, which we suspect may imply the discharge of the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto 6, amongst different video games.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a narrative tip? Send it to [email protected].
