While Take-Two's NBA 2K franchise is known to feature real-world brands--and even Jake from State Farm himself--don't expect the company's biggest franchise, GTA, to follow suit.
Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said at iicon this week in Las Vegas that fans should not expect product placement or brand integration deals in GTA 6.
"We need to be true to the underlying intellectual property and we need to be true to our consumers," he said, as reported by Variety. "It's a fictional world and everything in it is fictional. So we're not even at risk of doing brand partnerships because all the brands are made up. And I think that keeps us pure."
While the GTA series is not known for featuring real-world brands, the franchise riffs on them and makes fun of them regularly. GTA 5, for example, had a mission called "Friend Request," during which players had to get infiltrate the offices of social media company "Lifeinvader," a parody of Facebook, to plant a bomb inside one of the company's prototype phones and kill its founder.
Some of the other parodies in GTA games over the years have included the restaurant Cluckin' Bell (KFC) and the conservative TV network Weazel News (Fox News).
One big brand people are expecting GTA 6 to parody is Disney because the game is set in Florida and one of the Sunshine state's biggest attractions is Walt Disney World.
Also during his presentation, Zelnick talked about why he is "scared" to release GTA 6, even though the game is coming to market with an unprecedented amount of hype that will surely lead to millions and millions in sales. For GTA 6, he said his fear is multiplied by "a billion."
"I think the minute you stop running scared, you better get a different job if you're in the entertainment business. Because [if] you claim success before you have it--you will largely be wrong," he said.
GTA 6 has enormous shoes to fill, as predecessor GTA 5 has sold more than 225 million copies and generated tons more money from GTA Online.
GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Developer Rockstar has yet to announce a price point, but Zelnick recently said the game will be price at a "reasonable" level, whatever that means.
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Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said at iicon this week in Las Vegas that fans should not expect product placement or brand integration deals in GTA 6.
"We need to be true to the underlying intellectual property and we need to be true to our consumers," he said, as reported by Variety. "It's a fictional world and everything in it is fictional. So we're not even at risk of doing brand partnerships because all the brands are made up. And I think that keeps us pure."
While the GTA series is not known for featuring real-world brands, the franchise riffs on them and makes fun of them regularly. GTA 5, for example, had a mission called "Friend Request," during which players had to get infiltrate the offices of social media company "Lifeinvader," a parody of Facebook, to plant a bomb inside one of the company's prototype phones and kill its founder.
Some of the other parodies in GTA games over the years have included the restaurant Cluckin' Bell (KFC) and the conservative TV network Weazel News (Fox News).
One big brand people are expecting GTA 6 to parody is Disney because the game is set in Florida and one of the Sunshine state's biggest attractions is Walt Disney World.
Also during his presentation, Zelnick talked about why he is "scared" to release GTA 6, even though the game is coming to market with an unprecedented amount of hype that will surely lead to millions and millions in sales. For GTA 6, he said his fear is multiplied by "a billion."
"I think the minute you stop running scared, you better get a different job if you're in the entertainment business. Because [if] you claim success before you have it--you will largely be wrong," he said.
GTA 6 has enormous shoes to fill, as predecessor GTA 5 has sold more than 225 million copies and generated tons more money from GTA Online.
GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Developer Rockstar has yet to announce a price point, but Zelnick recently said the game will be price at a "reasonable" level, whatever that means.
Source