Rockstar Parent Company Wants Zynga To Turn Its Biggest Series into Mobile Games

Take-Two, Grand Theft Auto’s parent company purchased Zynga in an almost unprecedented $12.7 billion deal. This is partly because it wants the chance to bring some its largest console and PC gaming properties to mobile.

Strauss Zelnick from Take-Two discussed the deal in an investor presentation after the announcement. He also presented slideshows to investors. Take-Two’s slide, titled “Product Portfolios are Highly Complimentary”, shows how Take-Two’s games and studios can be used in conjunction.

Of particular interest to many fans will be the line-up of Take-Two games, with the likes of Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, BioShock and Mafia listed alongside a caption reading, “Opportunity to bring Take-Two’s console/PC properties to mobile & add new game modes”. The games are paired with Zynga’s in-house studios which have a “track history of successfully executing Mobile Game Development.”

Take-Two’s slides about synergies and Zynga. (Image credit: Take-Two)

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In a Q&A segment, Zelnick expanded on that point while discussing the benefits of the deal: “Perhaps most importantly we have the ability [with Zynga] – from both a development and a publishing point of view – to optimise the creation of new titles; new titles based on Take-Two’s core intellectual property. We believe we have the best collection of console and PC intellectual property in the interactive entertainment business – and it’s basically nearly entirely un-exploited from mobile and free-to-play around the world.”

Zelnick did not specify which franchises would be available for mobile development. He also didn’t say whether they would be in the form of new games or ports. Zelnick also stated that the collaboration was in its “early stages”, so we may not see these projects released or announced until then.

Take-Two had plans for a lot more than just the Zynga deal. The company wanted to drastically increase the number “core” titles that it releases, and 19 games were planned for the next three-years.

Joe Skrebels serves as IGN’s Executive editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Got a tip to share? Do you want to share a story idea? Send an email [email protected].