Why doesn't GTA Online have more brand collaborations?
Brendan Sinclair
Managing Editor
Tuesday 17th May 2022
Brand collaborations are big business in gaming these days, with comic books, movies, musicians, sports leagues and car makers regularly showing up in games like Fortnite, Roblox, Fall Guys, and more.
And while Grand Theft Auto Online has many of the same metaverse-like qualities of those titles and occupies the same echelon of massive success, its collaborations have been far fewer, and much easier to overlook.
Speaking with Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick ahead of the publisher's earnings report this week, we ask if there's potential for the game to do more on the brand collaboration front, and whether past controversies or the franchise's satirical brands make that more difficult.
"The world of GTA is a fictional world, so to bring real-life brands in, they really have to be iconic and they have to fit within that world"
"The world of GTA is a fictional world, so to bring real-life brands in, they really have to be iconic and they have to fit within that world," Zelnick says.
"It's very much a creative decision driven by the team at Rockstar. It's not a financial decision. We run all of our businesses here in an effort to engage and captivate consumers, and then we figure monetization takes care of itself. We wouldn't include a brand just based on a financial opportunity in any of our titles.
"There are other titles that are really well suited to involving brands and even having direct advertising, NBA is one of them, PGA is another. When you involve yourself with those games in the real world, you have an expectation of seeing advertisers and sponsors. But you don't really have that expectation in Grand Theft Auto, except for fictional brands. So to bring a real-world
Read more on gamesindustry.biz
