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Take-Two CEO on Nintendo NX: "We are very interested"; also talks Playstation VR

T

thefro

Member
From an interview from thestreet.com with Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick

thestreet.com said:
Nintendo (NTDOY) has already announced Nintendo NX will be coming out in spring 2017. What impact will new consoles from the major players have on the gaming industry over the next couple of years?

It could be very exciting. You never want to count Nintendo out. They go quiet for a while and then they come to market and do something really exciting. We are very interested and watching closely the development of what Nintendo plans to do next.
Click to expand...

On VR and Playstation VR:

thestreet.com said:
What are your thoughts on virtual reality, and how is Take-Two preparing for this new platform?

There's no doubt there's a lot of excitement about virtual reality and in fact there is hardware now on the marketplace. But there's not a lot of software yet in the marketplace. It remains to be seen how powerful a platform this will be from a commercial point-of-view, and specifically for the entertainment business. And then more specifically for the interactive entertainment business.

The way we look at all new technology is we're here to delight consumers. And if they find a piece of hardware compelling, it's our job to develop and deliver the software to make that the most exciting entertainment experience that one could have. We think with the highest-rated software in the interactive business, we're uniquely positioned to do that.

It's still early and so far not much of an economic opportunity exists, and not much of an install base. So even if we had something ready to bring to market, there aren't enough people with headsets to buy it that would really be meaningful to us. It's more likely that we will continue to follow the market closely and continue to do R&D. We'll be well-poised to bring titles to market if and when there's a meaningful install base.

Sony is launching PlayStation VR this October. What impact do you see that new platform having on the VR ecosystem?

Sony (SNE) is a great consumer marketing company. They're obviously experts in interactive entertainment. They've done a great job with the launch of PlayStation 4. They're a standard in much of the world, so they're incredibly well-positioned. But we still don't know how the consumer will respond to VR.
Click to expand...
 
O

Oregano

Member
Okay so whilst that isn't "We'll be there day one" that's probably a bit more positive than would be assumed from a company that has released zero Wii U games(correct me if I'm wrong). Maybe there is an interesting hook.
 
L

L~A

Member
I usually don't give a damn about comments like those, but in this case, we've gone from "lol don't give a shit about Nintendo" to "hey, we're interested.

Massive improvement, ha ha.
 
F

FZZ

Banned
Usual PR talk but "very interested" bodes a little better than the usual "we are awaiting to see how the [insert Nintendo console] develops"
 
T

thefro

Member
OrbitalBeard said:
That's actually more positive than he's been regarding Nintendo in the past.
Click to expand...

Right, it's CEO speak and doesn't mean they'll support NX, but he's not saying "we'll wait and see how many copies they sell", dodging the question, or laughing about Nintendo. He could have gave a general answer about Neo/Scorpio/NX after saying the first part about never counting Nintendo out, but didn't.
 
D

Dark Cloud

Member
They've never said we're very interested. Sounds like a big jump. I bet Kimishima is meeting with them and getting in good hands with more western third party devs.
 
Z

Zevenberge

Member
They are human, confirmed. Everyone with a bit of gaming is "very interested" in the NX, even if it's only to see how much of a clusterfuck it is now. So kind of a hollow statement.
 
A

Akki

Member
z0m3le said:
he saw zelda, and those people running to get in like for 6+ hours
Click to expand...

He also saw Zelda and understood that no 3rd party game can compete on a Nintendconsole against Zelda. The wait and see approach is probably the right decision, old ports wont help. Nintendo has to grow the installbase.
 
N

Nightbird

Member
Mpl90 said:
For reference, an interview I found 6 months before Wii U's launch

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...gen_success_according_to_TakeTwos_Zelnick.php

Let's see if I can find more about it.
Click to expand...


While Take-Two will make sports and family titles for the Wii U, its bigger core franchises have been notably absent from the list of partners. And that seems unlikely to change anytime soon.

"We haven't announced anything," says Zelnick on the possibility of moving the company's mature titles onto the Wii U. "I'm skeptical."
Click to expand...

That's certainly an improvement!
 
S

spekkeh

Banned
First couple of replies seem to gloss over that this isn't EA or Ubisoft, but Take "we don't give a shit about Nintendo" Two. For them to say it's possibly going to be very exciting, is a huge break in trend.

Seems like Nintendo is positioning itself to older gamers again?
 
Z

z0m3le

Banned
Akki said:
He also saw Zelda and understood that no 3rd party game can compete on a Nintendconsole against Zelda. The wait and see approach is probably the right decision, old ports wont help. Nintendo has to grow the installbase.
Click to expand...

2k's target audience buys more than one game, and honestly 2k can compete with Nintendo, and I say that as a huge Nintendo fan, R* is one of the best developers in the world, and they even worked on porting GTAV to Wii U before it launched, but realized the CPU was trash. What I meant to point out was that there is huge interest for Nintendo thanks to their E3 showing, the core gamer is looking at the NX wondering if they are buying that, they are waiting to see how Mario is going to be "all new" and they are at the very least thinking about Nintendo again, just look at this other thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1235839

At this point in time, people are more interested in NX than they ever were in Wii U, this fall Nintendo might make some very stupid mistakes, but they haven't yet and there are a lot of people who want the NX to be good so they can just go buy it next spring and start exploring Hyrule. Heck Zelda sold me on NX, even as a huge Nintendo fan, I was ready to skip their next console, so I'm also hoping for no big mistakes, but I'm already committed to the idea that I'm buying NX at launch. (I waited a year for Wii U)
 
R

Rodin

Member
They said the same about Wii U

“It is an HD platform that has the processing power to develop a compelling triple experience. If it takes hold of the market, that is good for us. So from that perspective, we are very excited about that.”
Click to expand...

but then the console bombed

"...Following this idea that Take-Two's content goes where the consumer goes, Zelnick spoke about the company's relationship, or lack thereof, with Nintendo and the Wii U console. Take-Two believes that Wii U just doesn't have the consumer base to warrant its attention right now. "Our strategy is to meet consumers where they are," Zelnick elaborated. "If they're buying hardware, we'll be there with software. That said, we make these really big, AAA titles that work on some platforms, but not others."
Click to expand...

If the NX sales are good maybe they'll do something.
 
Ploid 3.0

Ploid 3.0

Member
Rodin said:
They said the same about Wii U

“It is an HD platform that has the processing power to develop a compelling triple experience. If it takes hold of the market, that is good for us. So from that perspective, we are very excited about that.”
Click to expand...

but then the console bombed

"...Following this idea that Take-Two's content goes where the consumer goes, Zelnick spoke about the company's relationship, or lack thereof, with Nintendo and the Wii U console. Take-Two believes that Wii U just doesn't have the consumer base to warrant its attention right now. "Our strategy is to meet consumers where they are," Zelnick elaborated. "If they're buying hardware, we'll be there with software. That said, we make these really big, AAA titles that work on some platforms, but not others."
Click to expand...

If the NX sales are good maybe they'll do something.
Click to expand...

Ouch, at least they're honest.
 
Z

z0m3le

Banned
Rodin said:
They said the same about Wii U



but then the console bombed



If the NX sales are good maybe they'll do something.
Click to expand...

I think this is exactly why they are positive at all, if they noticed the rumblings at E3, they could be expecting NX to actually take off which would of course be good for them, it would give them access to more customers, a part of the market they have really never been able to reach because of hardware or lack of a RoI.
 
J

Jackano

Member
"We're looking" so they aren't developing anything yet while the system is supposed to come out in 9 months.

+1 to my theory that Nintendo will need/want to support the system alone until late 2017.
 
P

Prisoner KSC2-303

Member
Standard PR response. Third parties are standing on the sidelines waiting to see what happens, either by choice or because they haven't been included in Nintendo's plans.

I'm fine with a first party box, but I'd love to hear a reply to this question that at least intimated support.
 
L

Lightning_Roller

Banned
Words that pretty much amount to nothing. I'll be surprised though if they do try to release games on NX, but until then, this message says nothing.
 
R

Rozart

Member
Was curious but it's just some polite fluff. A nice way of saying that they don't have anything planned for either systems.
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
z0m3le said:
2k's target audience buys more than one game, and honestly 2k can compete with Nintendo, and I say that as a huge Nintendo fan, R* is one of the best developers in the world, and they even worked on porting GTAV to Wii U before it launched, but realized the CPU was trash. What I meant to point out was that there is huge interest for Nintendo thanks to their E3 showing, the core gamer is looking at the NX wondering if they are buying that, they are waiting to see how Mario is going to be "all new" and they are at the very least thinking about Nintendo again, just look at this other thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1235839

At this point in time, people are more interested in NX than they ever were in Wii U, this fall Nintendo might make some very stupid mistakes, but they haven't yet and there are a lot of people who want the NX to be good so they can just go buy it next spring and start exploring Hyrule. Heck Zelda sold me on NX, even as a huge Nintendo fan, I was ready to skip their next console, so I'm also hoping for no big mistakes, but I'm already committed to the idea that I'm buying NX at launch. (I waited a year for Wii U)
Click to expand...
But Espresso PUNCHES! ...above it's weight XD

Do you think is a fair assertion to qualify the level of interest as higher for NX when nobody in the gaming community knows what it is to begin with? Maybe what you ment to say is that people are interested in anything else from Nintendo after the Wii U was released. In 2013 very loud voices wanted or predicted that Nintendo would kill the console.

If we go back to the Wii U speculation threads prior to E3 2011, those were massive.
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
Forkball said:
Glad to see Nintendo is working closely with major western third parties to ensure a good lau- oh..
Click to expand...
Do you know what is really important from this type of PR stuff and what it actually means to us?

Just in this E3 there's this statement by Take 2 and the Ubisoft one, and these are 2 Western developers that ahve disance themselves from development in Nintendo platforms for years, and they know what the NX is. Yet, Zero information has filtered to the public, considering there has been a delay is even more impresive.
 
F

Forkball

Member
Refreshment.01 said:
Do you know what is really important from this type of PR stuff and what it actually means to us?

Just in this E3 there's this statement by Take 2 and the Ubisoft one, and these are 2 Western developers that ahve disance themselves from development in Nintendo platforms for years, and they know what the NX is. Yet, Zero information has filtered to the public, considering there has been a delay is even more impresive.
Click to expand...
Ubi is one of the biggest third party developers on Nintendo consoles. For Wii and Wii U they had exclusive titles at launch and Just Dance is a huge franchise for them, largely thanks to Wii sales.

And from this quote, it seems like Rockstar doesn't know what the NX is at all. He just says they're interested and watching what Nintendo is doing. It doesn't seem like they are actively developing anything for the NX, when Nintendo should be begging third parties, especially ones as big as Take Two, to jump on board.
 
Refreshment.01

Refreshment.01

Member
Forkball said:
Ubi is one of the biggest third party developers on Nintendo consoles. For Wii and Wii U they had exclusive titles at launch and Just Dance is a huge franchise for them, largely thanks to Wii sales.

And from this quote, it seems like Rockstar doesn't know what the NX is at all. He just says they're interested and watching what Nintendo is doing. It doesn't seem like they are actively developing anything for the NX, when Nintendo should be begging third parties, especially ones as big as Take Two, to jump on board.
Click to expand...
Yes, Ubisoft is one of the biggest third party developers on Nintendo consoles, why point that out? The fact doesn't change that they haven't been actively developing titles for Nintendo systems in recent years.

We can be sure that Rock is not developing anything yet.

Why it seems they don't know what the NX is? Do you think Ubi does? Or any other western dev for that matter?
 
T

Tatsumi Oga

Banned
I don't think this really means anything. Wonder if he's even seen it yet. I remember what EA said and that sounded like they had no idea what the NX was yet. I think Take Two simply means the new concept. Interested in what it could be.
 
O

Oregano

Member
Forkball said:
Ubi is one of the biggest third party developers on Nintendo consoles. For Wii and Wii U they had exclusive titles at launch and Just Dance is a huge franchise for them, largely thanks to Wii sales.

And from this quote, it seems like Rockstar doesn't know what the NX is at all. He just says they're interested and watching what Nintendo is doing. It doesn't seem like they are actively developing anything for the NX, when Nintendo should be begging third parties, especially ones as big as Take Two, to jump on board.
Click to expand...

I don't think you can say this definitively. They might not have development kits but it's very possible they've discussed with Nintendo some details that they're not exactly going to divulge. Even if it's a simple "Will it be possible to port our games?", "Yes" they probably know a lot more than us.
 
T

thefro

Member
Oregano said:
I don't think you can say this definitively. They might not have development kits but it's very possible they've discussed with Nintendo some details that they're not exactly going to divulge. Even if it's a simple "Will it be possible to port our games?", "Yes" they probably know a lot more than us.
Click to expand...

I'd be pretty shocked if they haven't had multiple meetings by this point. We know from Fortune's article last year they were talking with third parties in the West about the NX during E3 2015. John Harker said it was happening earlier than that.

The top-level executives at any major publisher are going to know much more than we do. They may not know the gimmick/hook of the system, but they'll know other important details in general. That stuff isn't going to trickle down to games journalists until the actual developers get widely informed.
 
R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
thefro said:
I'd be pretty shocked if they haven't had multiple meetings by this point. We know from Fortune's article last year they were talking with third parties in the West about the NX during E3 2015. John Harker said it was happening earlier than that.
Click to expand...
I saw some people, Benjamin Cornu of http://www.gameblog.fr/ for example, tweeting about NX being present at E3 2016 behind closed doors as well. After having talked to an acquaintance of mine, I am slightly doubtful this actually happened (at least in the way purported with hardware shown described as good/powerful).

I am however convinced that most larger developers/publishers (Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, Capcom, EA, Epic Games, Level 5, Warner Bros) have been briefed multiple times on NX.
 
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