Take-Two has released its financial report for the fiscal year ended March 31. The company also shared its stance on AI and provided new information about its business strategy and future game releases.
Financial highlights for FY23
- Take-Two reported net revenue of $5.35 billion, up 53% year-over-year. Total net bookings grew 55% year-over-year to $5.28 billion.
- Net loss was $1.12 billion, compared to net income of $418 million for the full previous year.
- Digital sales accounted for 95% of the company’s total revenue. 78% of net revenue came from recurrent consumer spending (in-game purchases, DLCs, microtransactions, etc.).
What does Take-Two think of AI?
During an earnings call, CEO Strauss Zelnick said Take-Two is “enthusiatic” about AI because it would allow it to improve efficiency with better tools. However, he believes that big hit games will still be created by real humans.
“I wish I could say that the advances in AI will make it easier to create hits,” Zelnick said. “Obviously, it won’t. Hits are created by Genius, and data sets plus compute, plus large language models do not equal Genius. Genius is in the domain of human beings, and I believe we’ll stay that way.”
Zelnick added that all large language models are based on data sets, which by definition, are backward-looking, while hits in the entertainment business are always forward-looking.
A machine is not going to be able to look forward. A machine can predict based on data sets and using massive compute and using large language models. But to confuse that result with intelligence and creativity is like confusing a magic trick with magic. It's not magic. It's still a magic trick. So, that's where I'm at on this. CEO of Take-Two
Right now, Take-Two is experimenting with different tools and technologies. The company believes that AI will make a lot of elements and processes easier for everyone, but it won’t allow developers to “push a button to make a hit.”
Next phase of growth and plans for the future
Here are updated sales figures on Take-Two’s biggest games:
- GTA V — over 180 million units sold since its launch in 2013 (over 400 million copies for the entire franchise);
- Red Dead Redemption 2 — over 53 million units sold (75 million copies for the entire franchise);
- The NBA 2K series — over 135 million units sold;
- Borderlands 3 — over 17 million copies sold (80 million for the entire franchise);
- The BioShock series — nearly 42 million units sold;
- The Sid Meier’s Civilization series — over 67 million copies sold
- The Outer Worlds — over 5 million units sold.
For fiscal years 2024-2026 (ending March 31, 2026), Take-Two has 52 games in its pipeline:
- 17 “immversive core” products (like GTA and NBA 2K);
- 7 indie titles (published by Private Division);
- 18 mobile games (excluding hypercasual);
- 4 mid-core projects (like LEGO 2K Drive);
- 6 remasters/ports.
44% of the planned games are new intellectual property. Take-Two president Karl Slatoff told investors that the company understands that not all titles will be successful, but it will continue to invest in new IP because it “ultimately is the lifeblood of our industry.”
Take-Two believes that in FY25, the company will enter its “next phase of growth” and will launch “groundbreaking titles that we anticipate will set new standards of quality and success and enable us to deliver over $8 billion in net bookings.”
Although it is not clear what the publisher means by those “groundbreaking titles”, this might be a hint on the release window for GTA VI. So the new game from Rockstar may come out between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.