The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a massive spike in the consumption of interactive entertainment and Take-Two Interactive, owner of publishers 2K and Rockstar, has shown how it has benefited from worldwide lockdowns during its yearly earnings report this week. Most have assumed that this large increase in users will slowly dissipate as lockdowns start to peter out. However, Take-Two Interactive's CEO, Strauss Zelnick, thinks that the growth will only continue.
With video game sales in March of 2021 reaching close to 1.6 billion –a 35% year over year increase– and Steam concurrent users hitting an all-time peak of 20 million in the same month, the industry has been flourishing across the board. Twitch's viewership rose by 67% from 2019 to 2020, with YouTube and Facebook Gaming seeing large increases as well, largely attributed to the pandemic. This is in stark contrast to the struggle of other sectors in the entertainment industry, such as film and television, which have been hit hard by the pandemic.
Zelnick, whose own company has seen an increase in revenue from $3.09 billion USD to $3.37 billion, stated that much of this industry growth has been down to "people either discovering or rediscovering interactive entertainment and its social aspects during the pandemic." He suggested that these social factors, such as the online mode for GTA 5, are what will keep the industry steadily growing after the pandemic, saying that while certain trends will normalize post-COVID, it is likely that much of the growth will be permanent.
Interestingly, Zelnick praised Activision and its "great success with Call of Duty Mobile," stating that the team at Take-Two "admire" what Activision has done with Warzone and the rest of the franchise. The free-to-play model of Call of Duty: Warzone is something that Take-Two appear to be looking at, with GTA Online being free for PS5 users later in the year and Red Dead Online receiving its own separate version that can be purchased for a lower price than the full game.
The year over year increase for the gaming industry has been impressive throughout the global pandemic, and with a large number of new users being introduced to gaming platforms such as Steam and streaming services like Twitch, it seems that Zelnick could be correct about growth continuing indefinitely. Importantly, Zelnick's comments could shed some light on Rockstar's continual focus on GTA Online over the years since GTA 5's initial release, given its parent company's focus on the social aspects of gaming as an important avenue for growth. Many will be hoping that this emphasis on free-to-play and social gaming doesn't have too much of an impact on the release date of GTA 6.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz