Take-Two CEO says "they are already in the business" when asked about Metaverse

Metaverse is a virtual world where players can interact with each other

When asked about his reaction to the growing metaverse trend, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that his company was "already in that business."

Speaking with CNBC, Zelnick said that if we go by the current definition of the metaverse - a vast online virtual world that allows user interaction and communication - then his company already had their foot in the gate with online spinoffs like Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online.

Both these games present persistent, online worlds where players are free to engage with the world or the players around them, however they see fit.

“As a digital location that we can go to be entertained, to connect with other people to talk, to play, to drive cars, to engage in criminal activity, to be the police that stops that criminal activity and you have fun along the way, we’re already in that business,” said Zelnick.

He also argued that Take-Two was possibly the largest metaverse company right now if we were to take into account revenues and profits. Take-Two Interactive posted better than expected earnings for the last quarter, with its shares jumping 4.8%.

Despite being in the business, Zelnick is still sceptical on how the metaverse model will be transposed to VR. Facebook's recent name change and Zuckerberg going all in on a VR Metaverse prompted Zelnick to question whether, "we’re going to wake up in the morning and intentionally sit at home, strap on our headsets and conduct all of our daily activities that way.”

He said that we were already forced to do that during the pandemic, and we didn't end up liking it that much.