Yesterday’s Red Dead Redemption 2 delay was soul crushing for a lot of gamers who had eagerly been anticipating Rockstar’s latest magnum opus. It must also have been worrying for investors of Take 2, because the company now finds itself without any major games for this year, except for NBA 2K17 and presumably WWE 2K17.
However, speaking to investors at a financial call, Take 2’s CEO Strauss Zelnick praised the decision, calling it a good decision financially and creatively in the long run.
“I think the purpose for the delay for Red Dead Redemption 2 is to make sure that we deliver the most extraordinary experience that we’re capable of providing,” he said. “We haven’t run into particular issues, we’re building a new game from the ground up for the first time for new-generation consoles, and the pressure that we put on ourselves to deliver excellence to the consumers is extraordinary. And we want to make sure that the appropriate time is taken to deliver the best game that we can, and I think that’s what consumers expect of Rockstar Games, and that’s what Rockstar Games typically delivers.
“So we support emphatically the label’s decision, and we’re utterly confident that it’ll prove in time to be wise, first and foremost creatively and artistically, and economically as well.”
Considering that this kind of thinking gave us a game like Grand Theft Auto 5 – a fantastic game that has now sold 80 million copies worldwide, and continues to chart to this day – I hardly think that anyone will be disagreeing with him on this one.
