Take-Two has just announced its financial results for the 12 months ended March 31, 2024. The company experienced a huge increase in net loss, but remains confident in its game development pipeline and the upcoming GTA IV launch.
GTA VI
Financial highlights
- According to its earnings release, Take-Two reached $5.34 billion in net revenue in FY24, almost flat compared to the previous fiscal year.
- The US accounted for 61% of the total. Mobile was the number one platform by revenue, with a 51% share, followed by console (41%) and PC (8%).
- Net bookings were $5.33 billion, up 1% year-over-year. Net bookings from recurrent consumer spending (in-app purchases, DLC, in-game ads, etc.) increased 2% and accounted for 78% of the total.
- The top-performing titles were NBA 2k24, GTA V, GTA Online, Toon Blast, Empires & Puzzles, Red Dead Redemption 2, Words With Friends, Merge Dragons!, and the company’s hyper-casual mobile portfolio.
- Net loss reached $3.74 billion, a significant increase from the $1.12 billion net loss in FY23.
- The fourth quarter accounted for $2.9 billion of the total, including $2.18 billion in goodwill charges, $304.3 million in acquisition-related expenses, and $93.3 million in restructuring costs.
- For the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, Take-Two expects to deliver net revenue $5.5 to $5.6 billion, with a forecasted net loss of $674 to $606 million.
Game sales and future releases
Take-Two has 22 “immersive core” releases (large AAA games like GTA and its sports franchises) in its pipeline, including GTA VI and Judas (no release window).
GTA VI is expected to launch in the fall of 2025, with the company saying that “consumer anticipation for the title is unprecedented and our expectations for its commercial impact continue to increase.”
By the end of FY27 (March 31, 2027), Take-Two also plans to launch two indie games (Tales of the Shire in FY25 and an unannounced title in partnership with Game Freak), 10 mobile titles, and five remasters/remakes of its previously released games.
The publisher also updated the sales figures for its key games and franchises:
- GTA V — 200 million units sold (the entire GTA series crossed the 425 million mark);
- Red Dead Redemption 2 — 64 million units sold (the RDR series sold 89 million copies);
- NBA 2K — 149 million units sold;
- BioShock — 43 million units sold;
- Borderlands — 86 million units sold (Borderlands 2 — 28 million, Borderlands 3 — 20 million);
- Sid Meier’s Civilization — 71 million units sold.
To deliver long-term growth, Take-Two will continue to invest in its diverse development pipeline, pursue new business opportunities (subscriptions, esports, web3), and focus on M&A to “deliver long-term shareholder value.”
Cost-cutting initiatives
- In FY24, Take-Two increased its headcount by 745 people to the total of 9,639. It is worth noting that the company started the new fiscal year by laying off around 600 employees and making cuts at its Private Division subsidiary.
- During an earnings call, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told IGN that, despite previous reports, the company didn’t shut down Roll7 and Intercept Games: “We’ve announced that we’re saving $165 million in existing and future costs, but we haven’t shuttered anything.”
- It is unclear how those cuts affected Private Division, with Zelnick only saying that he doesn’t think that the publishing label is in some kind of trouble.
- “I think, as I said, we’re reviewing all of the projects company-wide, and sometimes we do have to make hard choices,” he noted. “We just tend to leave those announcements to the label, we don’t tend to talk about them, so we’re not trying to be cute or difficult today.”