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Take-Two's Zelnick continues to play down cloud gaming hype

Exec says that the market for video games isn't going to expand in the way people think thanks to this new tech

Take-Two's Zelnick continues to play down cloud gaming hype

The CEO of Take-Two Strauss Zelnick has once again said that cloud gaming won't have the impact that many in the industry think it will.

Speaking to Protocol, the exec said that the notion that there are people out there who are interested in games but are unwilling to buy a console or PC "doesn't make any sense at all."

"There were some parties who were saying there are 130 [million] to 140 million current-gen consoles out there," Zelnick said.

"There are billions of PCs out there. You know, if you can make in a frictionless way console video games available to everyone who has a PC or a tablet or a phone, then your market size automatically would be 20x just mathematically.

"Of course that doesn't make any sense at all. Because the implication is you are super interested in video games but you were just unwilling to buy a console. I mean, I'm sure there were people like that, but if they are so interested that they want to pay $60 or $70 for a front-line title, it's hard for me to believe they were unwilling to spend $250 on a console to be able to do it ever in their life."

Can they use it?

Zelnick continued: "The second problem is you still have to get into the hands of the consumer. They're beholden to whatever technology exists wherever they live. You may be out on the cloud, but if they're on a phone line, they won't be able to avail themselves of what you're distributing.

"So I suspect it will not be transformative. I'm speaking against my own interests, right? We're supposed to paint this picture of nirvana; however, I just don't think it's nirvana. Nirvana is making great hits, and then people will find them."

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PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.