Policies like EA’s Project Ten Dollar are ”punishing users” when they should be given reason ”to buy new”, providing a ”benefit to consumers.”
”It’s irrelevant to be critical of the used-game marketplace,” Zelnick said at a conference in New York. Punitive policies like Project Ten Dollar and the Online Pass was not the way to help the industry counter used games.
”You don’t want to use a stick punishing users for buying used; you want to give them a reason to buy new,” he said. ”You want to create something that’s of benefit to consumers.” Communicating what’s to come is key, like downloadable content etc.
The first 6 weeks for a new release are crucial to its future. ”By letting consumers know there’s more stuff to come, it stands to reason they’d hang on to their titles,” argued the Take-Two chairman. Zelnick also ruled out any MMO projects for the publisher.
Managing servers and dealing with customer call centres was something they ”knew nothing about”, and pouring $100m into something so volatile wasn’t sensible.
”How many MMOs have worked in US market? WOW and Everquest. How many have been launched?” he asked. ”We didn’t like those odds.” Smart man that Strauss Zelnick, no wonder he’s soon to be crowned CEO. No massively online GTA - sorry.
