Take-Two Interactive Software reported that its net bookings hit $1.47 billion in the fiscal second quarter ended September 30, up 2% from $1.44 billion a year ago.
The bookings growth was driven by sales of the Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands franchises, and the company reiterated its out look for net bookings for the year ending March 31, 2025. On a non-GAAP basis, Take-Two said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA, a key measure of profitability) was a loss of $75.5 million in the quarter.
All eyes are on Take-Two, as Rockstar Games on schedule to publish Grand Theft Auto VI in the fall of next year, about 13 years after the debut of Grand Theft Auto V, which has now sold 205 million copies. Take-Two’s stock is up 3% to $173 a share in after-hours trading.
“I am pleased to report that we delivered strong second quarter results,” said Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, in a statement. “Our net bookings of $1.47 billion were at the top of our guidance range, driven by the continued success of the Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands franchises, and our operating resultssurpassed our plans, largely due to a shift in the timing of marketing expenses within the year.”
Zelnick added, “Our execution has been consistent, and our teams continue to make great progress advancing our development pipeline. Accordingly, we are reiterating our fiscal year 2025 net bookings guidance range of $5.55 to $5.65 billion, and we are confident that we will achieve sequential increases and record levels of Net Bookings in fiscal years 2026 and 2027.”
And he said, “As we look ahead, we believe that Take-Two remains exceedingly well-positioned for the long-term. Our vision is clear, our talent is unparalleled, and we have one of the strongest portfolios of owned intellectual property in our industry. With many exciting new titles coming in Fiscal 2026 – including Grand Theft Auto VI in the fall, Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country – we expect to create long-term value for our shareholders.”
During the quarter, the company said it sold the Private Division label, which focuses on third-party original indie titles. But it did not name the buyer.
The $1.47 billion in bookings were at the top of the guidance range.
In other details, net bookings from recurrent consumer spending grew 6% and accounted for 81% of total net bookings in the quarter. The largest contributors to net bookings were NBA 2K25 and NBA 2K24, Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, and Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online.
In the more casual/mobile games, Take-Two said the quarter benefited from sales for Toon Blast, the hyper-casual mobile portfolio, and Zynga’s titles including Match Factory!, Empires & Puzzles, Words With Friends and Toy Blast.
Recurrent consumer spending is generated from ongoing consumer engagement and includes virtual currency, add-on content, in-game purchases and in-game advertising.
Net bookings is Take-Two’s operational metric and defined as the net amount of products and services sold digitally or sold-in physically during the period, and includes licensing fees, merchandise, in-game advertising, strategy guides and publisher incentives.
On a GAAP accounting basis, net revenue increased 4% to $1.35 billion, as compared to $1.30 billion in last year’s fiscal second quarter. Recurrent consumer spending increased 8% and accounted for 80% of total GAAP net revenue.
On a GAAP basis, the net loss was $365.5 million, or $2.08 per share, as compared to $543.6 million, or $3.20 per share, for the comparable period last year.
Outlook
For the third fiscal quarter ending December 31, the company expects net bookings to be $1.35 billion to $1.4 billion, and non-GAAP EBITDA to be $78 million to $100 million.
For the GAAP fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, Take-Two expects net revenue to be $5.57 billion to $5.67 billion. The GAAP net loss is expected to be $775 million to $839 million, while non-GAAP EBITDA is expected to be $282 million to $336 million.
The largest contributors to net bookings are expected to be NBA 2K, the Grand Theft Auto series, Toon Blast, our hyper-casual mobile portfolio, Match Factory, Empires & Puzzles, the Red Dead Redemption series, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, and Words with Friends.
The net bookings outlook is expected to be in a range of $5.55 billion to $5.65 billion, which represents 5% growth over FY24.
Take-Two now expect RCS to grow approximately 4%, representing 78% of Net Bookings. This is up slightly from the prior forecast of 3%, driven by NBA 2K. The RCS forecast continues to assume a high single digit increase for mobile, driven by Match Factory and Toon Blast, partially offset by declines in the hyper-casual mobile portfolio and Empires and Puzzles. NBA 2K is expected to grow low single digits, which is up from the prior forecast of flat, while Grand Theft Auto Online is still expected to decline.
Take-Two project the net bookings from labels to be roughly 51% Zynga, 32% 2K, and 17% Rockstar Games. The company forecasts geographic net bookings split to be about 60% United States and 40% International. Non-GAAP Adjusted Unrestricted Operating Cash Flow is expected to be an outflow of $150 million, which is unchanged from the prior forecast, and the company remains on track to deploy approximately $140 million of capital expenditures, primarily for game technology and office buildouts.
The outlook assumes a continuation of the current economic backdrop.
Game information
Since July 1, Take-Two released Zynga’s Game of Thrones Legends on mobile and NBA 2K25 on the consoles and PC. In the near future, releases include Sid Meier’s Civilization VII on the console and PC on February 11, 2025. GTA VI doesn’t have a specific launch date other than the fall of calendar 2025.
2K will publish WWE 2K25 in the March 2025 quarter. Borderlands fall is coming in the year ending March 31, 2026, as is 2K’s Mafia: The Old Country. Zynga’s CSR Racing 3 will come out on mobile at some time in the future, as will Ghost Story Games’ Judas.
The slight increase in net bookings was largely driven by a modest increase in net bookings, as well as mix of business. In the period, 82% of console game sales were delivered digitally, up from 75% last year. Catalog accounted for $366.1 million (48.7% of non-mobile net bookings). Take-Two has 37 titles in the works through March 31, 2027.
Rockstar Games
Sales of Grand Theft Auto V outperformed expectations and, to date, the title has sold-in more than 205 million units worldwide. Grand Theft Auto Online also exceeded plans, driven by sustained engagement with the Summer content pack Bottom Dollar Bounties, and an array of updates.
Momentum also continued within GTA+, as Rockstar grew its membership by 35% over last year, and added the classic title, Bully, to the library of available games.
Red Dead Redemption 2 posted another good quarter. The title has sold-in more than 67 million units to-date and, six years after its release, still ranks in the top ten for unit sales globally, according to GSD. Rockstar Games was pleased to expand its audience further with the successful launch of Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare for PC on October 29.
2K
On September 6, 2K and Visual Concepts launched NBA 2K25, which scored among the highest ratings on new generation consoles in recent franchise history.
The game has 9,000 new ProPLAY animations that provide increased authenticity; an all-new dribble engine, representing the biggest technological update in the series’ 26-year history; and a more interactive and engaging experience in The City.
To-date, the title has sold-in nearly 4.5 million units and achieved phenomenal RCS performance, the company said. Compared to NBA 2K24 for the same period last year, NBA 2K25 delivered meaningful double-digit growth in average revenue per user and 40% growth in average games per user.
2K’s catalog also outperformed, led by the popular Borderlands franchise. Now that Gearbox has officially joined the 2K and Take-Two family, Take-Two said it is eager to capitalize on the many potential growth opportunities for Borderlands, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and other Gearbox titles.
Zynga
Zynga delivered another quarter of solid results. Match Factory is scaling rapidly and is on track to become Zynga’s second largest title by the end of this year in terms of projected annual net bookings. The title grew approximately 16% over last quarter, driven by its engaging gameplay, including the recent Star Race bold beat, and our strategic investments in user acquisition.
Toon Blast is maintaining its fantastic path of growth, with Net Bookings increasing more than 50% over last year, as our teams deploy highly engaging new features, including new single player and team based events and social challenges.
The blended monetization efforts in hyper-casual are advancing well. In particular, Screw Jam remains a top fifty game in the U.S. Apple App Store. Nordeus released the highly anticipated 2025 edition of the popular soccer manager game, Top Eleven. Backed by a month-long marketing campaign, the release generated positive sentiment around the community, which helped solidify the largest in-app purchase spending per active user in the game’s 14-year history.
During the quarter, Zynga launched Game of Thrones: Legends, and Take-Two is excited about the label’s future mobile launches, including CSR 3 – Street Car Racing.
Private Division
Take-Two said it made the strategic decision to sell the Private Division label (aimed at third-party indie game publishing) to focus resources on growing its core and mobile businesses for the long-term. As part of this transaction, the buyer purchased the rights to substantially all of Private Division’s live and unreleased titles.
Take-Two will continue to support No Rest for the Wicked, which launched in early access on PC in April.The company said it is grateful for the contributions that the Private Division team has made to its company and is confident that Private Division will continue to achieve success in its new home.
As for the number of employees, Take-Two closed the September 30 quarter with 13,077 people, including 10,273 in-house development studio staff. Those numbers were up, respectively,by 110 jobs and 125 jobs. About 22% of staff were in low-cost locations (India, China, Turkey, Serbia, Chile, and Hungary).
Strauss Zelnick interview
I asked if the U.S. presidential election would have an effect on Take-Two’s future or perhaps gaming’s future.
Zelnick said, “We’re an entertainment company. We’re focused on entertainment, not politics. I’m really excited about our future.
Asked about the decision to sell Private Division and if it was a tough time for original intellectual property, Zelnick said, “I think it’s always a tough time for new IP. We beat the risk in Private Division, and that risk was based on a thesis that there were a lot of great independent creators out there we could work with and perhaps build some massive franchises within that division.”
He added, “The team did a great job, led by Michael Worosz. Virtually everything that they invested in did well, and Outer Worlds did really, really, really well. But nothing, nothing broke out to the level of one of the core intellectual properties at 2K or Rockstar, and our real mission and vision is to make the biggest hits in the entertainment system. That’s what we do. We do that in mobile. We do that in content.”
That led to the decision to divest.
Zelnick said Rockstar hasn’t announced a new GTA Online for GTA 6, and he said the labels make such announcements. But he noted that the company doesn’t necessarily have to sunset prior iterations in online as it launches brand new titles. As an example, in China, NBA 2K Online coexists with NBA 2K Online 2.
Regarding the Nintendo talk about about backward compatibility for Switch games, Zelnick said, “I’m always optimistic when people are investing in the business and seeking to innovate.” A spokesman added that the company is always happy with platforms that offer backward compatibility, given the strength of Take-Two’s catalog. In an analyst call, Zelnick said, “Never count Nintendo out.”
As for layoffs across gaming, Zelnick said, “I think that most companies have gotten to whatever restructuring they needed to do. And as you know, the industry is going once again, and I think it will remain the fastest growing part of the entertainment business for some time to come.”
Since Take-Two capitalizes its costs, Rockstar’s spending on GTA 6 shows up on the balance sheet for now, and the company expects to incur marketing fees around the launch, said Hannah Sage, EVP of finance and chief accounting officer, in an interview with GamesBeat. She said the company largely hit its financial targets.
Regarding Borderlands movie, Zelnick said in an analyst call that it was disappointing and the results were not material to Take-Two’s financials and so it did not break them out. The box office was $31 million, with costs above $110 million. He said it drove some incremental game sales.
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