Rockstar Doing Just Fine, May Announce Big Game “Soon”

So how’s Rockstar Games and their publisher Take-Two Interactive doing? Just fine, thanks for asking. The company released their first-quarter earning statements over the weekend, and it was a profitable one — though they did experience a loss. And they’re promising the reveal of some “future projects” soon.

The entirety of Take-Two’s public statement is rather long, so we’ve reduced it to the relevant parts.

Business and Product Highlights

Since April 1, 2016:

Rockstar Games:

• Released new free content updates for Grand Theft Auto Online, including:
  • Cunning Stunts, which features a total of 27 brand-new, high-octane Stunt Races utilizing ramps, loops, wall rides, tubes, raised tracks and dynamic objects for a radical new take on Grand Theft Auto Online racing, along with 19 new vehicles, clothing and the launch of the Stunt Race Creator tools, which allow the community to make and share their own custom stunt races. Also added on August 2, 2016 was the Entourage Adversary Mode.
  • Further Adventures in Finance and Felony – one of the game’s biggest and deepest updates yet, which expands the VIP experience of the Executives and Other Criminals update to give players the opportunity to become CEO of their own Criminal Enterprise. Further Adventures in Finance and Felony combines all new gameplay with a host of special new vehicles, exciting new features and much more.
  • A May 3, 2016 update featuring the new ‘In & Out’ Adversary Mode and more.
• Made Red Dead Redemption available as part of Microsoft’s Xbox One Backward Compatibility program, enabling owners of the Xbox 360 versions of Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare, and Red Dead Redemption: Game of the Year Edition to play the game on Xbox One. In addition, Red Dead Redemption is now available for purchase through digital download from the Games Store on Xbox One.
• Rockstar Games also is hard at work on some exciting future projects that will be revealed soon.Operational Metric – Bookings

  During fiscal first quarter 2017, total bookings, which represents the total amount billed by the Company from sales of physical product sold-in to retail and available to consumers, net of allowances, plus product digitally-delivered to consumers during the period, were $253.4 million, as compared to $353.8 million during fiscal first quarter 2016, which had benefitted from the launch of Grand Theft Auto V for PC. The largest contributors to bookings were Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online, NBA 2K16 and Battleborn. Catalog accounted for $208.7 million of bookings led by Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2K. Digitally-delivered bookings were $172.7 million, as compared to $245.1 million in last year’s fiscal first quarter, led by Grand Theft Auto, NBA 2K, and Battleborn. Bookings from recurrent consumer spending (virtual currency, downloadable add-on content and online games) grew 22% year-over-year and accounted for 60% of digitally-delivered bookings, or 41% of total bookings.

  Management Comments

  “Fiscal 2017 is off to a solid start, with first quarter net revenue up 13% year-over-year,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two. “Our results were driven by the continued strong performance of Grand Theft Auto V and NBA 2K, coupled with growth in revenue and bookings from recurrent consumer spending, including record bookings from Grand Theft Auto Online.

  “We anticipate a robust holiday season for Take-Two, anchored by the upcoming launches of Mafia III, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, NBA 2K17 and WWE 2K17. We plan to continue to support our titles with an array of innovative offerings designed to promote ongoing engagement and drive recurrent consumer spending, including additional free content for Grand Theft Auto Online. Looking ahead, our exciting development pipeline extends well beyond the current fiscal year, and we expect to grow bookings and cash flow from operations in fiscal 2018.”