Publisher hurt by dearth of new releases during July-September quarter, but beats expectations; Grand Theft Auto franchise ships 114 million.
Take-Two didn't have any major releases during the July-September period, and that fact was reflected in its second-quarter earnings report today. Beating company expectations, overall revenues for the quarter came in at $107 million, and Take-Two posted a net loss of $47.3 million.
Those numbers are well off of Take-Two's performance during the same period a year ago, where profit hit $8 million on revenues of $245 million. That quarter, of course, was bolstered by the release of 2K Czech's Mafia II, Firaxis' Civilization V, and the continued strong performance of Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption.
Today's earnings announcement also revealed a delay. Previously scheduled for a March 6 release, 2K Marin's XCOM has been pushed out of Take-Two's current fiscal year. The game is now expected to ship sometime between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013.
Catalog sales and digitally delivered content propped up Take-Two's earnings during the period. The publisher saw the best performance out of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, as well as Red Dead Redemption, Borderlands, Sid Meier's Civilization V, Midnight Club Los Angeles, and NBA 2K11.
Calling L.A. Noire its "most successful new release" during its current fiscal year, Take-Two said the Team Bondi-developed game has now shipped 4 million units. Other games released this year that have performed well for Take-Two include Nicktoons MLB and MLB 2K11.
Take-Two also provided a number of other game shipment updates. Gearbox's Borderlands franchise has now shipped more than 5 million units, while Firaxis' Civilization series has shipped nearly 11 million units worldwide. The Red Dead franchise is now up to 13 million units.
With Grand Theft Auto V announced late last month, Take-Two also said that Rockstar's crown jewel franchise has now shipped more than 114 million units.
For its full fiscal year, Take-Two still expects to post a profit, thanks to upcoming releases such as Max Payne 3 and The Darkness 2. However, Take-Two did say that it is facing headwind with NBA 2K12, due to the professional basketball league's ongoing lockout. Still, that title is performing within expectations, according to the publisher.
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