Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software, does not see the logic in cramming ads into full-price games.

However, Matthew Ball, an industry analyst who recently published a report titled The State of Video Games in 2026, argues that games are losing the battle for attention. He also predicts that in-game ads will play an increasingly significant role in PC and console games as developers and publishers seek new revenue streams. Ball reiterated this view in a later interview with The Game Business. However, to Strauss Zelnick, this seems unreasonable.

“Last year, 2K said that two and a half billion NBA 2K games are played each year. I don’t know what 2K is thinking, but Electronic Arts has teams working on ad deployment. If we think about it very simply, that’s two and a half billion games that were matched and have a loading screen. That’s an extraordinary amount of inventory. Would the Ford Mustang, The Avengers, or Old Spice pay a significant sum for that inventory with a valuable, targeted audience? Of course,” said Ball.

“Yes, for free-to-play titles. But for titles that cost 70 or 80 dollars? No, we only have limited advertising in games like NBA 2K because it fits with the vernacular. You want to see ads in a stadium because you would see them if you were there in real life. But that’s not a significant source of revenue. It’s hard for me to imagine us wanting interstitial ads in a game someone paid $70 or $80 for. It would seem unfair,” Zelnick said.

That sounds awful, but, given the current situation, it’s not unreasonable. Fairness is sometimes a flexible concept, especially in the world of big corporations, where everything, including noble principles, bows down before the grumpy god of commerce. However, it’s also fair to say that Take-Two is essentially the grumpy god of commerce itself. Zelnick predicted that every adult console owner on the planet would buy Grand Theft Auto VI.

Of course, that’s an exaggeration because not everyone is interested in Rockstar’s game.

Source: PCGamer, The Game Business, The Game Business