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[IbizaPocholo]

Take-Two CEO says COVID-19 could spark long-term change in remote work

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick isn't concerned that the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will hurt the overall gami…

www.gamesindustry.biz

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference today, Zelnick was asked about both the immediate effects of the coronavirus outbreak on business, and what he thought the long-term consequences would be.

Zelnick responded that aside from the already-announced delay of the Nintendo Switch version of The Outer Worlds due to the port studio's location in China, Take-Two remained unaffected by the situation.

"Any time people are sick or have tragically lost their lives, that's a more important topic than any we're covering today," he said. "In terms of business continuity, we're not concerned. In terms of our consumer, we're not concerned. And we have the ability to work remotely if it comes down to that. And I don't believe it will."

Later, he did concede that "markets may take a real hit" and "things will slow down," but concluded that "it also will pass," comparing the situation in the US to regular flu outbreaks in terms of its effects on both individuals and businesses.

Zelnick was then asked whether or not increased remote work would affect productivity.

"They're going to have to find a way to be just as productive at home," he said. "Actually, I think one of the things that may come out of this if it's as widespread as I believe it will be, one unexpected consequence is a lot of us who were skeptical about remote work are going to be less skeptical about it.

"I'm one of them by the way. I'm not a big believer in remote work. But I think I may be surprised. I think you are going to see a significant change, maybe a long-lasting change, in business travel.

"Is [remote work] as effective as being face-to-face? I actually don't think so. But also, every one of you [addressing the conference audience] lost productivity getting here and returning from here, and the time that is less productive here. I'm not sure. We may be very surprised coming out of this."

 

[GHG]

This will probably be the silver lining of this whole thing.

People realising these stuffy offices need not exist anymore in the vast majority of cases.

 

[Flick]

And thats a good thing-

 

[BacklashWave534]

As a IT manager i have to say that this is one of the positive things that will come out of this. Some of the older fossils in the office think that its not possible to put in an honest days work from your home office.

 

[Bkdk]

How is growth of remote work consequences? The best thing about this outbreak is the boost it will give to the digital economy. AI and robotics will be focused even more to reduce the need for human interaction, thereby minimizing health and economic impact for next outbreak.

 

[j0hnnix]

Working from home gives balance ,if you know how to balance work/life, hell at times Im ready for work alot quicker with less stress due to me not having to deal with the struggles of traffic. After three years working permanently from home our "new CTO" believes working from the office is better, saying "this virus is in our minds but not in our office" wtf. I'm in IT 90% of the environment is virtual. Going into the office , not the data center is a waste of time for us. There will always be a boomer thinking the old way is best.

 

[Thaedolus]

I think it depends on what you’re doing. There are times where working from home for me is waaay more productive. Other times, being in the office for meetings is better than conference calling. But, you could do something like meeting Mondays and be remote the rest of the week and it would be fine IMO.

 

[daninthemix]

Commuting is universally unpleasant and unproductive, and accounts for a significant proportion of many people's lives.

Home-working is a no-brainer.

 

[Dontero]

Home work sounds amazing until you realize that most of people are lazy and they need that structure to be efficient.
I am one of those people. I need some sort of structure around me to focus completely on work. In home i just get distracted too much.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

My company is already set up to allow work-from-home and I use it occasionally. It's not gonna affect my industry much until supplies for computer hardware and cabling become scarce, and even then people will just fly in a holding pattern until the pandemic blows over.

 

[diffusionx]

I work from home once in a while, but the thought of doing so every single day horrifies me. Human beings need to interact with other human beings, not sit in a their house all day every day.

 

[JCK75]

I work from home once in a while, but the thought of doing so every single day horrifies me. Human beings need to interact with other human beings, not sit in a their house all day every day.

I'd be fine not interacting with other people, but working from home would mean me setting at my gaming PC trying to stop myself from just playing Overwatch all day and actually do my job.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Yeah, my company's letting people work from home for the rest of the month, and I've declined to do so. Sitting at home every day seems like a miserable existence. Destigmatizing working from home is a good thing, though. There are advantages to being in the office depending on what you actually do, but it's good not to treat working remotely as this awful, unproductive thing.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Desk Jobs: Games professionals share their work-from-home set-ups

The way we work has changed.Social distancing and isolation measures designed to fight the spread of COVID-19 have shif…

www.gamesindustry.biz