PS5/Xbox Series X: Take-Two Boss On What The Next-Gen Consoles Will Offer

The head of Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games and 2K Games, has offered some high-level thoughts on what the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X can offer in terms of new experiences. During the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, Strauss Zelnick said the next-gen consoles will allow for lots of new richness and depth.

"We're very excited about what the new consoles will allow our creative folks to do," he said. "We've obviously been developing with new technology for some time [already] so we're very familiar with where that can take us. Generally speaking, what new technology in our business allows us to do is better memory, better graphics, more fidelity, more beauty, more subtlety, more speed, more richness, and more depth. More characters."

Zelnick pointed to Red Dead Redemption 2 versus Red Dead Redemption 1 as an example of how its developers leveraged new technology to make more in-depth experiences. Indeed, Red Dead Redemption 2 offered a much larger, richer world than the original game, which was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

On a longer timeline, Zelnick said he expects development tools to be able to create experiences that are indistinguishable from real life.

"Over time, our systems will be so sophisticated that you won't be able to distinguish between interactive entertainment created in a computer and live-action entertainment created with a camera," he said. "There will come a point where photorealism will be possible."

Zelnick pointed out that the graphics and presentation for the NBA 2K series is so advanced that it's nearly as good as real-life NBA broadcasts.

However, just because Take-Two's teams may one day be technically possible to reach photorealistic graphics, that doesn't mean the company will pursue this for all of its games. Zelnick pointed out that the Borderlands franchise will likely remain a stylized series in the future. However, the executive said some of Take-Two's other teams might pursue games with photorealistic graphics.

The PS5 and Xbox Series X are both scheduled to release this holiday.