Judas

> I recently asked Take-Two CEO Zelnick if he thinks current industry trends are sustainable. […] Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto VI is certain to sell a kajillion copies, but how much longer can other games in their portfolio continue to raise production costs when the growth of the traditional market has stalled? […] “It’s not really sustainable unless you make massive blockbusters,” Zelnick told me last week. “And that’s super hard to do.” He dropped a line that he’s used many times before — saying that he wants his company to be the “most creative, innovative and efficient,” and that the latter two “should allow us to continue to do great things while managing costs.” That said, he confessed, the current path can’t continue. “We certainly can’t deal with exponential growth — we probably can’t even deal with linear growth— in production costs,” he said. “So everyone puts pressure on everyone, ourselves included. But on balance, we want to make bigger hits, and we’re prepared to take appropriate risks to do so.” […] Take-Two is in a better position than many of its peers, both because of live-service stalwarts like Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2K and because it has turned around its mobile business to a remarkable degree. But even Zelnick acknowledges that they need to figure out how to lower the costs of game production in order to keep going. […] Zelnick said that for some franchises and some types of games, “you’re going to have to rethink how you develop it and rethink how you market it.” Given this sober look at the finances of game development, I was curious to hear Zelnick’s thoughts on ***Judas***, a project in his portfolio that has been in the works for more than 12 years. Helmed by the polarizing BioShock creator Ken Levine, ***Judas*** began development in 2014 after the closure of Take-Two’s Irrational Games. Since then, almost all of the founding studio members have departed, and the game has been in a persistent state of development hell. Zelnick said they review all of their properties every quarter and that if something isn’t coming together, they’ll shut it down. Such decisions, he said, are based on both the game’s progress and their confidence (or lack thereof) in the team’s leader to pull everything together. “It’s a judgement — I wish it were more scientific than that,” Zelnick said. “We really believe in Ken and support Ken’s vision, and I’m glad that we do. And I believe it will be smart to have done so in the end.” Clearly, there are some anomalies in Take-Two’s portfolio. Grand Theft Auto VI will likely be one of the most expensive games ever made — but it will also likely sell enough to justify the cost — while few other projects would get the kind of leeway that ***Judas*** has received.

>Avellone could be out working on a new game. Why is he so fucking insufferable and stupid all the time? >Actually, now that I think about it, I doubt any studio wants to hire that gremlin for anything, so maybe thats why hes leaning into being annoying for clicks. He's working on a couple of new games at the moment: one with Republic Games (unfamiliar with this studio), one with some Disco Elysium devs (Robert Kurvitz), and one with Raphael Colantonio of Wolfeye Studios (founder of Arkane). I think he also did some narrative work for Ken Levine's *Judas*.