Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was chatty as usual in today’s Q1 FY 2027 earnings call, giving a lot of space to GTA 6 (as expected) but also addressing rising hardware costs with optimism about cloud gaming as a solution.
When quizzed on the matter, he reckoned that increased hardware prices aren’t a significant headwind for Take-Two’s games because of strong demand for the publisher‘s titles (he’s mainly referring to GTA and NBA here, in all likelihood). Then, he shared that Take-Two is bullish about streaming taking off “commercially” within three years and basically increasing the installed base tenfold.
Look, the rising cost of hardware is not a good thing. And we wouldn’t argue that it is. I don’t think it will slow us down any, because we believe we’re delivering experiences that people want. However, a lower price point for hardware would be a good thing because there’d be more hardware in people’s hands. So I cannot argue this as a positive, but equally, we don’t see it as a headwind either.
And going forward, with the advent of streaming, which we really do believe is around the corner in terms of having something in slow latency and really works well for consumers, machines that weren’t game machines before will become game machines.
So, without regard to what happens in the console business, which is a consequence to us, of course, we see the overall installed base as a practical matter growing materially. And if you believe in streaming, and to be clear, we really do, and I’m happy to put a timeline on it. I think we’ll be in commercial streaming mode within three years.
And by commercial, I mean low latency. That can 10X the effect of installed base. Now, it doesn’t mean we’re going to 10X our revenue, and we wouldn’t project that we would because obviously, your avid consumers already have access to video game machines. But I do think it creates a great opportunity for titles that are broadly desirable, even outside of core markets. And we do have titles like that, obviously.
In a follow-up question, the Take-Two CEO explained why he believes this will be different from what happened with earlier cloud gaming attempts, such as Stadia (which the publisher supported).
I don’t think that’s the case here because of enormous advances in hyperscaler networks and advances in edge network technology, and I think, for example, there’s one player in the market that’s looking at rolling out a significant edge network that would address latency, at least in the US. I picked three years kind of because we know it’s not tomorrow, but I don’t think it’s five years. But of course, I could be wrong. We’re not betting any of our company on this.
Zelnick did not name the company behind the planned U.S. edge-network rollout, but NVIDIA appears to be the obvious candidate. The GeForce NOW provider has been working with Comcast on bringing NVIDIA-powered computing to the network edge, which could help reduce latency for cloud gaming. Most Take-Two franchises, like Civilization, Mafia, Borderlands, and XCOM, are already available on GeForce NOW, but Rockstar’s heavyweights Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto are conspicuously missing. Needless to say, it would be a great get for NVIDIA if GTA 6 were available on GFN alongside the inevitable PC launch.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief.
In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech’s gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews.
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