GTA Publisher Plans to Have Microtransactions in All Future Games

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has said that his company - which publishes the likes of Grand Theft Auto 5 and NBA 2K - will aim to offer "recurrent consumer spending opportunities" (read: microtransactions) in all of its games going forward.

In an investor call (as transcribed by Gamasutra) Zelnick explained that "we aim to have recurrent consumer spending opportunities for every title that we put out at this company. It may not always be an online model, it probably won't always be a virtual currency model, but there will be some ability to engage in an ongoing basis with our titles after release across the board".

There's a good reason for that, Zelnick says that recurrent consumer spending accounts for 42% of Take-Two's earnings in the last quarter. He calls it "a sea change in our business" and "transformative".

"The business, once upon a time," he explains "was a big chunky opportunity to engage for tens of hours, or perhaps a hundred hours. That has turned into ongoing engagement. Day after day, week after week. You fall in love with these titles, and they become part of your daily life."

"One of the things we've learned is if we create a robust opportunity, and a robust world, in which people can play delightfully in a bigger and bigger way, that they will keep coming back. They will engage. And there is an opportunity to monetize that engagement," he continued. "There's a lot of room for growth. This is just the beginning."

The statement comes amidst much discussion around the role, and even legality, of loot box-style microtransactions.

Middle of Earth: Shadow of War added controversially added loot boxes to its single-player campaign, while EA has changed how loot boxes will work in Star Wars Battlefront 2 after negative feedback from its beta.

Others see the rise of the "games-as-service" model Zelnick's describing as a death knell for single-player gaming, with the "refocusing" of the now-shuttered Visceral Games' Star Wars game a prime example.

Take-Two's biggest upcoming game is without doubt Red Dead Redemption 2, which looks almost certain to include a Red Dead Online mode - there's your recurrent consumer spending opportunities right there.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor, and he calls going to the supermarket a "recurrent produce purchase opportunity". Follow him on Twitter.