Take-Two Doesn't Care if Loot Boxes Go, Despite Earning $88 Million With Them

Loot Boxes are proving to be a big problem in the industry, both from a consumer and a legal standpoint. Turns out, it verges just close enough to the realm of gambling that it’s prompted many countries around the world – specifically Belgium, Netherlands, South Korea, and even the good ol’ US of A – to investigate and possibly ban loot boxes in video games… or at least, moderate them.

Many game companies, especially ones who rely on these systems to make their money, have resisted and pushed back against these efforts. But one company who doesn’t seem too terribly bothered by the possibility of new legislation is none other than Take-Two, that super-rich publisher behind some of the biggest money makers in the industry – GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Because from their perspective, Loot Box money is small potatoes.

"Just to put it in context, that mechanic is responsible for less than three percent of our net bookings in the past fiscal year, so it's not material to us… we have used the mechanic in the past, so it is something we've seen, and we think it's just fine. There has been some noise around it, particularly internationally. As we said, we think it's a perfectly reasonable mechanic, however it forms a very small part of our business."

Take-Two reported a net booking of $2.929 billion for the 2019 fiscal year, which means that loot boxes would have earned them $88 million dollars – an enormous sum for just about any other game publisher, but then, Take-Two isn’t just any other game publisher, now are they?

In any case. I think they’ll still back loot boxes if given a chance – if only to leave that monetary scheme open for themselves in the future and to avoid future legislation. But it’s good to know you can still make money without them in today’s game industry.