Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has responded to rumors of a FIFA and 2K Sports partnership, detailing the company’s sports game portfolio.
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has responded to rumors of a possible partnership between FIFA and 2K Sports. The statement was made during the Q1 2025 earnings call and addressed the company’s interest in creating a FIFA football simulation.
Zelnick’s Statements About FIFA and 2K Sports
“We are in the business of football,” Zelnick said, emphasizing Take-Two’s strong position in its existing portfolio of sports games. He noted that the company has been pleased with the success of its popular “Top Eleven” football management game on mobile. However, he acknowledged that creating a high-quality football simulation for consoles is extremely difficult and takes a long time. “If you do it right, your users are very loyal and very engaged,” Zelnick said.
Zelnick also said that getting a FIFA license is not as simple as licensing deals with traditional sports organizations. “The players don’t come with teams or leagues. It’s not as simple as negotiating with the NFL or NBA or MLB, you have to negotiate with a league and a players’ union at most,” he said, drawing attention to the difficulties in the football simulation market.
Zelnick expressed his satisfaction with the company’s current sports game portfolio, noting that they have a wide range of successful game franchises, from the NBA to the PGA to the WWE. However, Zelnick did not completely close the door on possible future deals, leaving future possibilities open by saying, “I’m sure we’ll make more announcements in due course.”