Take-Two Interactive Boss Believes Gaming is “Moving Towards PC”

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Following Valve’s unveiling of the Steam Machine, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick shared his thoughts on gaming platforms. In a CNBC interview, Zelnick suggested that PC gaming is becoming increasingly dominant, but he doesn’t think consoles will disappear anytime soon.

Strauss Zelnick told CNBC that gaming is shifting towards PCs, and the industry generally favors open platforms over closed ones. However, he believes that immersive, lengthy gaming experiences on large screens will remain popular for the foreseeable future, defining ‘console’ as the game itself rather than just the hardware.

Later in the interview, Zelnick pointed out that mobile gaming and console gaming are currently neck and neck in terms of overall market size, but mobile is growing significantly faster than consoles.

It’s notable that Strauss Zelnick’s views align with Microsoft’s recent approach to gaming. This is evident in initiatives like Xbox Play Anywhere and their earlier ad campaign emphasizing a unified Xbox experience. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discussed this same idea – the blurring lines between PC and console gaming – in an interview last October.

During the interview, he explained that Microsoft first entered the console market with the goal of creating a gaming console similar to a PC. This effort ultimately resulted in the Xbox, a name that originated from its internal development title, ‘DirectX Box.’ The console was designed to utilize the DirectX graphics API, which was popular on Windows computers, but in a traditional console format.

He found it interesting that people often see consoles and PCs as separate entities. The original goal in creating the console was actually to build a superior PC specifically designed for gaming, and he believes it’s time to reconsider that original idea.

Ultimately, the console offers a unique and exceptional experience. It provides unmatched performance, really driving the technology forward.

Microsoft is working to build Xbox into a broader gaming brand, not just a console. Recently, they introduced new game development tools designed to make it easier to create games for both Xbox and Windows. These tools include a streamlined input system (GameInput API), a service for saving game progress (PlayFab Game Saves), and the ability to build games for multiple computer architectures – AMD64 and x64 – at the same time, which saves developers time and effort.

There’s talk that Microsoft’s next Xbox could be more like a powerful gaming PC than a traditional console. It might run the full version of Windows, letting you play both PC games and regular Xbox titles.

Valve recently announced the Steam Machine, launching in early 2026, and beat Microsoft to market with it. This gaming PC uses some specially designed components and runs on SteamOS, which is built on the Arch Linux operating system.

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2025-11-18 16:12