Take-Two CEO Says Mafia: The Old Country Is a ‘Wonderful Premium Title’, Seems to Confirm Judas for 2026

Alessio Palumbo
Take-Two game characters in dramatic scene with Judas neon text overlay.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick talked about the launch of Mafia: The Old Country and the future slate of games, including Judas.

Take-Two reported outstanding results for its first fiscal quarter of 2026, delivering total net bookings of $1.42 billion, up 17% compared to the $1.22 billion registered during last year’s fiscal first quarter. Net bookings from recurrent consumer spending (virtual currency, add-on content, in-game purchases and in-game advertising) also grew 17%, accounting for 83% of total net bookings. The most significant contributors to the record net bookings were NBA 2K25, Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online, Toon Blast, Match Factory!, Color Block Jam, Empires & Puzzles, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, Words With Friends, and Toy Blast.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was understandably bullish, especially since the publisher has arguably its strongest games lineup on the horizon. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz ahead of the financial report, the executive listed a series of games coming next year, and in doing so also included Ken Levine's next game, Judas.

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We have a number of releases coming in the next 12 months – it's probably our most robust release schedule ever. Obviously, Mafia: The Old Country is available on Steam and console. We have NBA 2K26 coming, Borderlands 4, which I'm really excited about, and WWE 2K mobile for Netflix. We've got WWE 2K26, then of course, GTA 6.

We have CSR 3 coming from Zynga, Judas coming from Ghost Story Games, and Project Ethos coming from 2K. It's the most robust lineup I've ever been able to talk about this far in advance.

The concept behind Judas, the so-called narrative LEGOs, has been in the works for over a decade. Levine famously hosted a GDC presentation about it in 2014 and then discussed it again in late 2015. The game itself was announced at The Game Awards 2022 and unveiled about fifteen months later. Just last month, Levine thanked Take-Two for not forcing Ghost Story Games to add live service elements.

That Judas is coming in the next twelve months is great news for the publisher, especially since the actual BioShock successor is reportedly in development trouble and may not materialize for quite a while yet.

Elsewhere in the GI.biz interview, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick expressed his strong confidence that Mafia: The Old Country would be successful:

I feel great about it. It's a wonderful premium title, it's priced right and it's really beautiful.

You can read our review of the game here.

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