With the PS4 and Xbox One off to fast starts around the world, it appears as though they will quickly catch up to the numbers seen in the last generation by both the PS3 and Xbox 360 fairly quickly. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, believes this as well.
Speaking at Credit Suisse 2013 Technology Conference (via Seeking Alpha), Zelnick was asked if he believes the worldwide PS4 and Xbox One install base will be greater than the PS3 and Xbox 360 (as of right now) within the next five years:
Yes I do, but I don’t think you should put any stock in that whatsoever, because it’s just too early to know. The supply has been so tightly controlled, and someone we met with earlier said this is a supply story, not a demand story so far. It’s just too early to say. I think the good news is that consumers like the platforms and I feel very, very good about them.
[…] As a betting person I’d say yes, and I’d specifically say yes because it appears that, and this is largely anecdotal, but tablets are a good example. All these new iterations of more and more exciting hardware seem to pick up in velocity generationally compared to five or ten years ago. But if we had a big market meltdown for example, repeat of ’08 and ’09 in three years, or two years, or two minutes, that would influence certainly. If this economy says on this track, yes, I feel pretty good about it.
Strauss also mentioned how they have “more than 10 projects in development for next gen, both current franchise, sequels and new intellectual property.” He then added how new IP is a “risky business,” but is proud of “the fact that we timed the completion of the current gen releases so well.”
The topic of F2P came up as well, with Zelnick talking about how it isn’t a powerful model in the US and he isn’t “psyched about a business that 3% of your customers pay you.” However, he says they are flexible when it comes to F2P, and “as long as we can get paid and make a profit doing it, we will be happy to contemplate it,” though he is skeptical that this is a business model that could be used for high end products.
Do you think the PS4 and Xbox One will outsell the PS3 and Xbox 360? Let us know in the comments below.
