In a report via GameSpot, Take-Two explained why their major franchises, such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and Max Payne, are not released on a yearly basis. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick shared, during the MKM Partners Investor Day in New York City, that: “annualization can lead to the erosion in the value of a given brand.” Zelnick went on to say that outside of sports titles, there are no plans to ever release major titles yearly.
Annual releases have become a trend in gaming, titles such as Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and now Halo (to name a few) all have scheduled yearly releases. Is this detrimental to the quality of the game? The hype and anticipation to games released yearly vs several years are arguable. For example, Fallout 4 sold 12 million copies for a total of $750 million dollars in 24 hours. The last Fallout release, Fallout: New Vegas, was 5 years ago—and 7 years from Fallout 3. Now as for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, which is an annual release, managed a respectable $550 million in 72 hours of release. These numbers were reported by Fortune.
So what do you guys think? Do annual releases affect the quality and anticipation of game franchise? Sound off on the comments below.
