Strauss Zelnick, CEO of the company Take two interactive (parent of Rockstar Games), gave IGN feedback on future mid-gen consoles (middle generation), which are rumored to be released by Sony and Microsoft as updates for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

In an interview with IGN ahead of Take-Two’s Q1 earnings release, Zelnick said the rationale for upgrading the ninth-gen console depends on how the products are managed. The manager stated thatGenerally speaking, mid-generation upgrades haven’t changed much. They are not that significant“.

Far from blowing them up, Zelnick was able to build on precedents like the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X, which focused on graphics and storage improvements. This was positive for consumers, but developers didn’t see it contributing anything relevant to video game creation.

The possibility of Sony and Microsoft launching mid-generation consoles may be due to slow adoption of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, who have been hit hard by the abnormal situation of the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to suffer, from a commercial point of view, the hangover effects of this context. In fact, the poor commercial situation of the ninth generation of consoles led Electronic Arts to decide to give the green light ports from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

As for the economic results of Take-Two Interactive, they show that they are quite good, as GTA V continues to have good sales and that Red Dead Redemption 2 exceeded 55 million copies sold. It seems that the Rockstar Games matrix has been running on autopilot for some time now, resulting in GTA 6 starting to target 2025 as a release year.

Let’s go back to the consoles, The existence of PlayStation 5 Pro, PlayStation 5 Slim and the preparation of a low-cost Xbox Series X have been rumored for a long time. We’ll see what Sony and Microsoft end up doing, but releasing some mid-gen consoles (9th update) might not be the answer, as PC hardware sales are having a very bad time.