GameDaily BIZ: What do you see as the major releases driving Take-Two's business this year and into next year?

Ben Feder: I think we have one of the strongest release schedules in the industry for all of 2008. It starts with GTA IV, but also includes Civilization, BioShock for PS3, and it includes a bunch of our games that when you put it all together it's probably the strongest release schedule in the business.

BIZ: The reason I ask is that Take-Two has been criticized over the years for perhaps being overly reliant upon the GTA franchise.

BF: The truth is if you look at the just about every company in this industry, most companies are dependent on a few key franchises. It's just the nature of the business. If you have hit titles, you'll rely those franchises for most of your revenue. It's not just true for Take-Two; it's true for a lot of publishers. It's kind of a catch-22; the more you're successful with GTA IV, the more criticized you get. At the end of the day, I'm a businessman, and our profitability speaks for itself. Our goal is to never be unprofitable, although we have been in the past. Are we in a volatile business? Yeah, and we do have the kind of 'James Bond' of the video game business. By that, I mean hits that generate other hits and that every sequel does better than the previous release in that franchise.

We are absolutely unapologetic about GTA's performance and its financial impact. But we do find ourselves in a volatile business and we have a terrific lineup, not only strong but demographically diverse. Civilization IV is one demographic that doesn't really intersect with the GTA demographic... you've got Carnival Games on Wii, which has sold over 1.5 million units and that doesn't really intersect, and then you've got Midnight Club, which does intersect a little bit.

What people also tend to forget about Take-Two is we have a library of franchises. We have 15 franchises that have sold over a million units each. So I think the [GTA dependent] tag is wearing a little thin. So there's no reason for us to be apologetic. The more successful we get, the more we get criticized.

BIZ: Take-Two recently said on a financial call that sports won't be profitable this year. What is Take-Two doing to make sure that its 2K Sports division is profitable?

BF: The issue with profitability is more of the cost structure, not the revenue side of the business. We are highly rated, [but] one of our challenges is translating the ratings into bigger market share. I think if you compare our market share to our rating share, we underperformed on that index. There are certain titles that are more profitable than others, so we need to balance our portfolio. The fact that the overall division isn't projected to be profitable this year masks the fact that certain titles are actually hugely profitable. Top Spin 3 is doing fantastically in Europe, and we're pushing it hard in the U.S. as well, so that's also going to drive profitability.

BIZ: Do you feel that EA Sports overshadows 2K Sports? Is there a problem with brand recognition in the mass market?

BF: I think of it like Coke and Pepsi. When Pepsi was first doing the Pepsi challenge, Coke's position was unassailable. Pepsi said "we are going to live or die on .1% market share" and we are pushing that through the brand and the 2K Sports franchises. We draw a line in the sand and then we move that line a little further and a little further and a little further, and we are bound and determined to increase our market share across all sports franchises. The fact that EA has got brand recognition in the marketplace, we accept it, but we are very happy in an environment where there are actually two competitors. I'd rather see that than a completely fragmented business. No question there are challenges, but it's a challenge I think we're up to, and that the development and marketing teams are up to. I will say without question that our development teams are the best in the business.