Take-Two CEO Touts Games Plan

Among some investors, Take-Two Interactive TTWO has the reputation of being a one-hit wonder.

Of course, a video-game maker could do a lot worse than having Grand Theft Auto as its only hit. Each of its last three iterations has been a runaway success, including Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which was the top-selling game in the industry last year. Still, the company's results have tended to rise and fall depending on its release schedule for the hip-hop and gang-banging title.

Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler sees one of his most important tasks as broadening the company beyond Grand Theft Auto, which was developed by the company's core studio, Rockstar Games. In the last year, under his direction, The company has taken on industry giantElectronic Arts ERTS in sports, bought several studios and licensed the rights to a series of new games, including the newest version of the PC classic Civilization.

With new hardware on the horizon, the industry is about to go through one of its periodic transitions, which should provide opportunities for Take-Two, Eibeler says. By the next console cycle's end, the CEO expects, Take-Two will be in same league as EA.

At the E3 conference in Los Angeles last week, I spoke with Eibeler about the coming transition, Take-Two's diversification efforts and the company's plans for Grand Theft Auto.

Q: You and SonySNE have had an exclusive arrangement with the Grand Theft Auto titles. Are we going to see a similar arrangement on the next generation of consoles?

When we announced that -- back [on] Grand Theft Auto 3 -- Sony was a big, big factor in the business and was a great partner of ours. We have [since] brought that brand to the Xbox and the PC market. It's just a wait-and-see attitude that we take to the market. [We] study the market and see [whether] that exclusive nature is good for the company at that time or if it's something that we might not want to do.

Q: So, the decision hasn't been made yet?

We haven't announced anything yet. It's a good position to be in, because we have the world's biggest brand and we have the hardware companies asking us, and certainly they want that product on their system. We will be finalizing that decision as we study the market.