Take-Two is a powerhouse publisher behind a number of successful franchises like GTA, NBA 2K, Civilization, Borderlands, and BioShock, but not everything that Take-Two touches turns to gold.
In an interview with Game File, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said the company is unlikely to get back into MLB-licensed baseball video games because it's "too small a market" and Take-Two wants to place bets on games that are more likely to make money.
"We had a tough history with MLB," Zelnick said. "It's no secret there [that] we lost a great deal of money with them. And I don't like losing money."
Take-Two's MLB 2K series started in 2005 and ran for about a decade before 2K announced in 2014 that the franchise was coming to an end. The series did not go out on a strong note. MLB 2K13 was critically panned for being essentially the same game as its predecessor, featuring only roster updates.
While Take-Two is no longer making baseball games, the company continues to produce its hugely successful NBA 2K series, along with its golf game franchise, PGA Tour 2K, and the WWE 2K games. What's more, the TopSpin 2K tennis series came back in 2024.
In 2020, it was announced that Take-Two and the NFL had reached a deal for new, non-simulation football games. A mobile game, NFL 2K Playmakers, came out in April 2024, but that was the extent of things.
So what happened? Zelnick said, "What we hoped would come to fruition creatively did not." Zelnick said he would be open-minded to working with the NFL again "if an opportunity presents itself."
In other news from Zelnick, he recently touched on the long wait for BioShock 4 and gave an update on Borderlands 4's delayed Switch 2 edition.
Take-Two's biggest upcoming game is GTA 6, which releases on November 19.
Source
In an interview with Game File, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said the company is unlikely to get back into MLB-licensed baseball video games because it's "too small a market" and Take-Two wants to place bets on games that are more likely to make money.
"We had a tough history with MLB," Zelnick said. "It's no secret there [that] we lost a great deal of money with them. And I don't like losing money."
Take-Two's MLB 2K series started in 2005 and ran for about a decade before 2K announced in 2014 that the franchise was coming to an end. The series did not go out on a strong note. MLB 2K13 was critically panned for being essentially the same game as its predecessor, featuring only roster updates.
While Take-Two is no longer making baseball games, the company continues to produce its hugely successful NBA 2K series, along with its golf game franchise, PGA Tour 2K, and the WWE 2K games. What's more, the TopSpin 2K tennis series came back in 2024.
In 2020, it was announced that Take-Two and the NFL had reached a deal for new, non-simulation football games. A mobile game, NFL 2K Playmakers, came out in April 2024, but that was the extent of things.
So what happened? Zelnick said, "What we hoped would come to fruition creatively did not." Zelnick said he would be open-minded to working with the NFL again "if an opportunity presents itself."
In other news from Zelnick, he recently touched on the long wait for BioShock 4 and gave an update on Borderlands 4's delayed Switch 2 edition.
Take-Two's biggest upcoming game is GTA 6, which releases on November 19.
Source