Take Two CEO Expresses Great Skepticism About Metaverse Bubble

At the beginning of the year, the gaming industry discussed the idea of ​​the metaverse discussed. The Metaverse roughly describes an alternative, virtual reality in which real and virtual elements should merge, “at best” across numerous games. While companies like Facebook, now known as Meta, or Ubisoft have expressed great interest in this idea and some have already invested a lot of money in it, the CEO of Take Two Interactive now quite critical on the subject of metaverse. In an interview with the website Gameindustry.biz Strauss Zelnick asked about the Metaverse and gave reasons for his skepticism.

The buzzword metaverse

Strauss Zelnick emphasizes a certain enthusiasm for virtual worlds that can inspire and entertain people. However, he is not a fan of the possibly misleading term metaverse, which can mean different things to different people. He also emphasizes that you can GTA Online, Red Dead Redemption Online and NBA 2K Online would have established three of its own metaverses. More projects of this kind are to follow in the future. No wonder, considering how lucrative all these projects are for Take-Two.

The Risk of the Metaverse

“I think my skepticism comes from the fact that suddenly all companies think that if they put the term metaverse next to their corporate strategy, it means that they are suddenly transformed and Nirvana is just around the corner, and that is simply not the case . It’s incredibly difficult to entertain people, it’s incredibly difficult to build hot brands. It costs a lot of money, it takes a lot of time and it’s a big risk.

So if a company doesn’t exist for two years and starts with a guide, opens a blockchain-based metaverse and sells virtual properties for millions of dollars in two days, then I’m a little skeptical. Because I have a healthy respect for how difficult it is to entertain people on these properties, and should there be no reason for people to visit these properties, I don’t know what these properties are supposed to be worth. And that is exactly what often seems to get lost.“

Ultimately, Zelnick describes a possible metaverse bubble, which might not have a particularly rosy ending for many companies. Zelnick is by no means averse to the idea itself, even if he compares the current behavior of the industry with the dot com bubble compared to the late 90s.