Report: Take-Two shies away from its MLB 2K franchise

While Take-Two's NBA 2K series is among the publisher's more popular franchises, its long-running Major League Baseball series has struggled to perform over the last several years, and today Take-Two indicated that it might be done with its MLB 2K franchise altogether. Take-Two's contract for the MLB license is set to expire within the next 12 months, and a company spokesperson told Kotaku, "MLB 2K12 is our last offering under that agreement. At this time, we have no further comment." In 2010, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick called the MLB license "a losing proposition." At least as far back as 2009, the company blamed losses (in part) on the performance of its MLB games. At the moment, Take-Two shows no indication that it plans to renew the MLB license. During a recent call to its investors, the company said that it expects losses associated with the MLB 2K brand to disappear within the next few years, suggesting that there are no future titles in the company's projections. Take-Two picked up the MLB license seven years ago for $30 million, though Take-Two has had trouble benefitting from the deal, as its MLB 2K games have struggled to find consistent success. With MLB 2K seemingly absent from Take-Two's lineup, the publisher's only remaining annualized sports franchise is NBA 2K. It also means that the Xbox 360 may well not have its own MLB title in the near future, as the only other publisher to develop titles with the license is Sony with its PlayStation-only series MLB The Show.