Putting in-game ads in full-priced games “would seem unfair,” according to Strauss Zelnick, the head of GTA 6 parent company Take-Two.
Speaking to The Game Business, Zelnick said in-game ads for free-to-play titles makes sense based on the business model, but not for $70 or $80 games.
“It’s difficult for me to believe that we would want to have interstitial advertising in a game that someone paid 70 or 80 bucks for. It would seem unfair,” he said.
Take-Two’s NBA 2K series has in-game ads because the game replicates the NBA experience, and as people know, ads are everywhere in stadiums. “You want to see advertising in a stadium, because you would if you were there in real life. But that’s not a big economic contributor,” Zelnick said.
The executive is making these comments after video game industry researcher Matthew Ball suggested that ads for pause menus and loading screens could be a lucrative economic opportunity for game studios. He said putting more ads in games could help publishers hold prices at $70 for new releases.
“We don’t want layoffs, we don’t want fewer games, we don’t just want the same games … We don’t want price increases. The money needs to come in one way or another,” Ball said.
EA already tried something similar with EA Sports UFC 4 in 2020, but the angry backlash against the in-game ad placements led the company to reconsider. Various other attempts for in-game ads were made in the late 2000s as well.
2026 is going to be a big year for Take-Two, as the company is launching perhaps the most-anticipated game in history, GTA 6, this November.
