Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive has extended the contract of long-time CEO Strauss Zelnick until 2029.
According to a new contract extension (spotted by Axios), Zelnick will now derive more of his pay from performance incentives related to “recurrent consumer spending,” which is essentially synonymous for in-game and game-adjacent purchases.
Defining “recurrent consumer spending” in a separate SEC filing, Take-Two indicated Zelnick will be rewarded based on how well virtual currency, add-on content, microtransactions, and — whisper it — perhaps even NFTs perform over the next seven years.
“[Recurrent Consumer Spending] as of a given date shall mean certain net bookings generated by the Company calculated on a basis consistent with how the Company calculates recurrent consumer spending for its management reporting,” reads Take-Two’s own definition.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Recurrent Consumer Spending may generally include, without limitation, the sale of virtual currency, add-on content, microtransactions, NFTs, game related subscriptions offered directly by the Company and/or its subsidiaries and similar items, but would not include full-game digital downloads.”
Although that recurrent consumer spending incentive isn’t a new addition, Zelnick’s new contract places more emphasis on its growth.
That’s hardly surprising given live service titles like Grand Theft Auto Online and sports offerings such as NBA 2K22 continue to drive earnings at the company, but it’s still notable to see Take-Two further incentivise growth in those areas.