Take-Two boss explains why AI hasn't reduced game budgets

AI, generative or otherwise, hasn't really affected the staggeringly-high video game budgets. The CEO of one of the industry's biggest companies explains why.

2

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has a level-headed take on AI as it pertains to game development budgets. It's an understanding rooted in history, with an emphasis on how advancements tend to create more complexities as new opportunities are opened.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Zelnick says that AI hasn't really helped budgets so much--nor does he expect it to. Instead, he expects AI to drive up costs in order to meet consumer demand.

"The history of technology applied to entertainment is that it increases efficiencies, but spending increases because the breadth of creative ambition grows at the same time. So technology allows our creative teams to do more, and naturally, they want to do more, and consumers demand that you do more. There's offsetting factors.

"There's really only one entertainment business where technological advances actually reduced production costs, and that's recorded music. That has indeed happened."

Zelnick goes on to say that it's all about creating extraordinary entertainment that delights consumers around the world, which of course leads to hit products like GTA V that sell hundreds of millions of copies, dwarfing some entire video game franchises.

"Look, if we can reduce costs...we have a three-part strategy: be the most creative, innovative, and efficient. We're all-in on efficiency, but you know what matters? Creativity and quality. Consumers don't ask how much it costs, they want to know how great it is."