Did Take-Two CEO Take A Jab At Reviewers And Game Critics?

"In terms of the reviews and scores, it was sort of an odd anomaly," CEO Strauss Zelnick said. "The scores were lower than we would have liked."

[Krussail]

Wow, someone's salty.. What a weak argument by Take-Two.

[UltraNova]

Some devs should really stop acting like some salty internet fanboys. Take criticism like a professional and make your product even better..

[Krussail]

Exactly. There's nothing wrong with making mistakes. Take the criticism, and make a better product. Case in point, FNAF.

[TheSaint]

This, make a good game and people will buy it, not exactly rocket science.

[Pantz]

most of the time gaming blogs give low scores to get clicks

[Krussail]

Not most of the times, and not the reputed ones anyways. But Mafia 3 did deserve the scores they got. I went in with an open mind, wanting to enjoy the story, even if the gameplay was not too good. But it was so bad, that I just could not..

[Pantz]

It's a corrupt system and another example of gaming blog reviewers throwing a fit because they didn't get their free review copy weeks before everyone else.

[Princess_Pilfer]

@Pantz

What are you, 10? They *told* you why they gave it a lower score and they've basically all said the same thing (amazing writing, boring repetitive gameplay) as have numerous, numerous user reviews. But sure, they're totally making it up.

[Redx165]

If it wasn't for Rockstar Games, Take Two would be irrelevant...

[C-H-E-F]

Visual Concepts is there other money make. So no, Take Two would still be relevant you just wouldn't have had Midnight club, GTA, Manhunt and Red Dead Redemption. Take Two has a tons of game studios under their belt. and game franchises. NBA2k, Max Payne, BioShock, Borderlands etc. etc. etc. However, GTA is the HUGE cash cow for sure.

[Redx165]

Max Payne is a Rockstar title.

BioShock had 1 good game
NBA 2k is another milked sport games
Borderlands only had 1 good game

Without Rockstar this company would be hardly passing by. GTA V's money alone can help develop the next few games at no real cost to them.

[Krussail]

Civilization, Bioshock, XCOM are also some good properties that they own.

[Deadpooled]

WWE 2K

[SonyWarrior]

lol....... take two is one of the best publisher there is period... its more like with out take two rockstar games would be irrelevant, you realise that GTA is T2 game rockstars are just the code monkeys that are told what to do yes they do a good job but most credit goes to their overlords at T2

[JumpAction]

I think you misunderstand T2s role in GTA. They are the distributors. Their responsibility in the development process of GTA V (and all Gtas since 3) was distributing the game to digital and physical store shelves. No game design, development, nor marketing. Just the distribution.

Source is Wikipedia :)

[SonyWarrior]

you realize T2 owns GTA ip if they wanted to they could fire rockstar games and open up a new studio to make it ect...

[JumpAction]

Do they? I understand Rockstar is a subsidiary of Take-Two but the responsibility of the (extremely successful) franchise seems to be primarily on Rockstar. They are, after all the developers and publishers of the GTA titles. (Take-Two do not publish the GTA games).

Regardless of who owns the IP, Rockstar's involvement through game design, game development and marketing are why the series are great. Take-Two's role in this has been putting games on store shelves.

I still think you're greatly underestimating Take-Two's involvement as a parent company in GTA's success. Yes, Rockstar is their subsidiary but Rockstar (and DMA if we're talking about early titles) are completely responsible for the franchise's success.

I'm sorry, I still don't understand your perspective. :(

[C-H-E-F]

Try again Max Payne was made by Remedy Entertainment. Rockstar was the publisher not the developer. Please inform yourself.

And you say "milked" GTA is a milked franchise as well. There's 15 GTAs because Rockstar says it's GTAV doesn't mean it's the 5th iteration of the franchise lOl.

Please just do yourself a favor and research and then reply.

[neoandrew]

LOL, nope, take two and rockstar games are the same entity, take two created rockstar, this is why they are publishing it and always will.

[strayanalog]

The review system is definitely flawed these days and should be changed. Instead of firing back, why don't the developers and gaming media devise a new rating method for reviews? Kind of like the industry did in the 90s with the ESRB rating system.

[OB1Biker]

Well said. When the media get criticized, in other words, critics get questioned, they just get angry and attack back.
Even the most ridiculous reviews like the washington post uncharted 4 which was acknowledged by metacritics will get the media attack the gaming community to defend it.

[Krussail]

Maybe it's an issue with the numbered scoring system since every individual has his own preferences..

[OB1Biker]

Yes they did. You dont need to get all defensive about it.
Besides thats very old news recycled again here.
http://n4g.com/news/1980164...

[Jon_Targaryen]

Funny how this game gets bashed for being repetitive but MGS V got praised to no end by Kojima fanboys for the same concept on release...

[Krussail]

That's not a fair comparison at all. The gameplay was some of the best, and the game looked great. The story was a letdown, and eventually the game does get repetitive. But it's still fun while it lasts, and gameplay is varied enough to keep the player hooked for a fair amount of time.

[Jon_Targaryen]

Same can be said here... I bought Mafia 3 and MGS V on release... both suffer from the same "open world fatigue" syndrome.

*Big ass map... Almost nothing to do..
*Story too short for the scope of the game's massive map, gets watered down to make huge map seem more relevant.
*Every second side mission is the same thing..
*Side characters get under used.
*Opportunity to make world feel more alive and atmospheric is ignored or totally missing.

The list goes on.. And on..

I dont care if the game was fun at first, its supposed to be fun the whole time through! Not trick you by thinking back afterwards "that game actually sucked, but at least it was fun for the first 6 hours doing the same thing!".

[cyber_daemonx]

Review scores should be earned not given by proxy.

[MilkMan]

I think people like myself bought and played the game and are thoroughly enjoying it. The owners of the title recognize it's weaknesses, however it is not a damming point, it won't stop you or hinder you from enjoying a game that for all all counts offers good value for dollar.
I believe word of mouth has helped this title immensely.
That's not to say the game is perfect, it's not allccountslsond I would agree that the open world wasn't utilized to the fullest extent, but even when there are games that have all these little dots on the map for me to do various activities, at least for me, I never do them. I like to get back to business. Maybe they have the same data.
I don't feel take two took a jab at reviews and their authors. I think they realize this is and part of gaming and it's something they can't change. I would agree that the tone of the statement was dismissive, but perhaps we Andre experiencing a paradigm shift.
For years gamers have been saying "we don't care about reviews" maybe the industry is embracing the same idea.

[sdcard4gb]

Well, no shit. It is completely normal to be salty, even though you were perfectly acknowledged of how half-playable and uninteresting your game was. Everybody's human around here, fellas.

[Vetalka83]

i enjoyed Mafia 3,enjoyed gameplay,story,didnt care about it being repetetive the only problem i had is the name of the game.....it's just not Mafia game i hoped for...

[yomfweeee]

He really didn't take a shot at reviewers.

[SonyWarrior]

heres a tip next time T2 dont have a mixed race outsider main character in a mafia game this is why i didnt buy it, same with watchdogs 2 i would have bought both these games but the character isnt a match and ruins the whole game to me and obviously others

[cyber_daemonx]

So the main reason this game is bad is because the main character isn't white.

SMH

[SonyWarrior]

honestly, yes ..

[OpinionSmasher]

FUCK BULLSHIT they didnt like our average attempt at making a sequel, fucking assholes totally bout to go tell them to go fuck themselves now

[sampson3121]

he didn't sound salty. why is it when anyone disagrees with anything they are called salty.

he just disagrees folks. his right to do so.

[LoveSpuds]

Personally, I really had a great time with Mafia, I can see why, if you are rushing through it to get a review out, it might seem repetitive but played at a regular pace, changing things up with the odd side quest, I found it to be a good game.

Reviews are, in my opinion, utterly pointless. Watch some online footage, watch a quicklook on Giantbomb or a favourite youtuber and make your own mind up.

[Manubiggs]

I loved the game - sure, it had its short comings but it was a solid 8 for me personally. I work and have family so Im only going to get an hour play time if I'm lucky, whereas a reviewer is going to play through in one or 2 sittings ....

[PixelGateUk]

old news http://n4g.com/news/1980164...

[georeo]

Story a little late. He said this a while ago, with stories covering this.