Take-Two’s latest quarterly net revenue decreased by 3% year-over-year to $1.40 billion while their net loss increased to $2.9 billion compared to a $610 million loss in the same quarter last year.
But it’s good news for mobile as it plays an increasing part of the company’s cash generating mix.
These figures come from the company’s Q4 2024 financials which show that the Grand Theft Auto and Zynga owner’s yearly net revenue remained flat year-over-year at $5.35 billion, while the net loss increased to $3.74 billion compared to a $1.12 million loss in the last fiscal year. However, total net bookings saw a slight increase of 1% year-over-year to $5.33 billion and total net bookings decreased by 3% year-over-year to $1.35 billion.
But GTA 6 is coming… Soon… Ish…
Although Rockstar had already confirmed that Grand Theft Auto 6 will launch in 2025, the latest financials go one further, locking in the highly anticipated open-world game to a release in “the fall of 2025”.
Take-Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick says, “We are highly confident that Rockstar Games will deliver an unparalleled entertainment experience, and our expectations for the commercial impact of the title continue to increase.”
The company also noted Grand Theft Auto 5’s remarkable 200 million units sold globally and high engagement in GTA Online. Red Dead Redemption 2 sold nearly 64 million units while NBA 2K24 sold 9 million copies, down from NBA 2K23’s 11 million at the same point in its lifecycle.
Those numbers in depth
Looking across net revenue figures by platform, very little has changed between the new report’s three months ending March 31st 2024 and the same period in 2023.
For 2024 mobile accounted for 51% of total revenue at $715.1 million in this period, compared to being 50% of the total at $717.7 million for the same period in previous year. So while mobile as a percentage of total is ever so slighty up, the actual amount earned is slightly down.
Meanwhile console and PC accounted for 41% and 8% of totals in 2024 compared to being 40% and 10% of the totals in the same period in 2023.
When it comes to bookings however mobile is up in all aspects. 2024’s period sees mobile attracting 53% of the total delivering $708.3 compared to being 50% of the total in the same period last year with $706.2 million.
On PC and console similar slight shifts are in effect. Console constituted 39% of total bookings delivering $527.4 million and PC 8% of earnings at $113.1 million in the period for 2024. 2023’s figures saw console making 38% of the total and $535.1 million and PC at 11% and $152.1 million as mobile nibbles on PC’s lunch into 2024.
Mobile fortunes
Isolating mobile further their investor presentation made a big play of their global player base, range of global studios, diversified games portfolio and their position as being in the top five mobile game publishers in the world via properties such as Zynga. The presentation went on to highlight what the company sees as being their key growth drivers in mobile. These include enhanced live services accross the entire Zynga portfolio via the sharing of best practice across studios, the creation of new games (including “active discussions across our labels to create mobile-first experiences of console and PC titles”) and an expansion of hyper-casual with a focus on profitability.
There’s also an intent to pursue high-growth and emerging mobile markets and growing their advertising business in all sectors by “leveraging Zynga’s expertise” in mobile advertising. In addition to this there’s also the promise of new business models being tested and what the company enticingly describes as “exploring select mobile M&A opportunities”.
Speaking of which the Zynga acquisition got a special mention as the company “significantly exceeded our cost synergy target of $100 million within two years of closing.” And further highlighting those improved mobile numbers below. “Mobile now exceeds 50% of our total net bookings and accounts for approximately 64% of recurrent consumer spending.”
Wins amongst losses
While keen to boast of mobile success there’s still the small matter of the company’s $2.9 billion net loss, which it states are largely due to $2.18 billion in goodwill impairment charges and $304.3 million in acquisition-related intangible asset charges. They also incurred $93.3 million in charges from a cost-reduction program involving layoffs and restructuring.
In their statement the company states that key assumptions and dependencies underlying the company’s performance on mobile going forward will include player acquisition costs, their ongoing focus on their live services portfolio, their new game pipeline, and stable foreign exchange rates.
“Many of our key franchises outperformed, including NBA 2K24; Zynga’s in-app purchases, led by Toon Blast and our newest hit, Match Factory!; the Red Dead Redemption series and the Grand Theft Auto series,” added Zelnick.
“We believe that our Company is poised to achieve new levels of success, and we expect to deliver sequential growth in Net Bookings for Fiscal 2025, 2026, and 2027,” the CEO concludes.
