Take-Two losses deepen to $543.6m in latest quarter

08.11.2023 - 22:59 / gamesindustry.biz

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Take-Two has released its financial results for the second quarter, which show net losses deepening to $543.6 million.

For the three months ended September 30, 2023, the company saw a 111.5% difference between this loss and the $257 million loss recorded in the same quarter last year.

Net revenue and net bookings both saw a slight dip, but the publisher said both were in line with previous guidance. It reaffirmed its forecast of between $5.37 billion and $5.47 billion in full-year revenue, but now predicts a net loss of $910 million to $957 million for the fiscal year.

Here's what you need to know:

Total net revenues were down 7% year-on-year to $1.3 billion with a gross profit of $415.4 million. However, operating expenses of $959.1 million led to that net loss of $543.7 million.

Net bookings fared better, down just 4% to $1.44 billion. Recurrent consumer spending bookings also decreased 7% – although Take-Two noted this in line with outlook – accounted for 78% of total net bookings.

The largest contributors to net bookings were NBA 2K24 and 2K23, GTA Online, GTA 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, Empires & Puzzles, Toon Blast, Words With Friends, Merge Dragons, Zynga Poker and Zynga's hyper-casual mobile portfolio.

Take-Two reported that it saw better-than-expected results from GTA 5, GTA Online and Red Dead Redemption 2, the first two now being ten years old. GamesIndustry.biz spoke to CEO Strauss Zelnick ahead of the results, and asked whether these titles are expected to lose momentum any time soon.

"We're always concerned," he said. "We never take success for granted and all titles degrade at some point. There is a decay curve. But what Rockstar has done to fight that curve, and in fact to create ongoing growth, has been nothing short of extraordinary and I think it reflects the near perfection of these properties."

Zelnick also talked up solid results from other titles such as NBA 2K, which sold over 4.5 million units and net bookings for this title are "expected to be up year-over-year, despite market challenges."

He also cited good performances from catalogue titles across franchises such as Borderlands, BioShock, Civilization, as well as other live service games and the Zynga portfolio.

"There are numerous pockets of opportunity inside the company," he told us. "Most recently at Zynga, we have three new titles that are looking very positive. It's early days, so way too early to claim great success. But Power Slap, Top Troops and Match Factory are all very promising and Zynga ad bookings are up year over year.

"So, you know, we're firing in all cylinders. We feel really good about how the company is doing."

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