Take-Two takes a hit after under par sales
Wednesday, August 01, 2012 1:04 PM
New York City-based Take-Two Interactive has blamed lower-than-expected sales of headline games Spec Ops: The Line and Max Payne 3 for running up hefty losses in the first fiscal quarter.
The publisher, which owns Rockstar Games and 2K, reported net losses of $110.8 million (£70.7 million) in the three months to the end of June this year and Strauss Zelnick, the firm's chairman and CEO, pointed the finger squarely at two of its blockbuster titles.
"Our first quarter results were below expectations due to lower-than-anticipated sales of Spec Ops: The Line and Max Payne 3," he explained to investors.
Zelnick had obviously set the bar very high for the latter, as this has already shifted three million copies since its release in May this year and has that all-important score above 85 on Metacritic.
It wasn't all doom and gloom in the company's forecast however, as the CEO is confident that "an extraordinary line-up of upcoming releases" - Borderlands 2, NBA 2K13 and BioShock Infinite - will get sales figures buzzing.
"Early consumer enthusiasm suggests robust demand [for these titles]," Zelnick said.
There was no mention of Rockstar's hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 5 in the company's forecast, although Zelnick later said in a conference call to discuss the results that the game is "in full development and making substantial progress."
However, there is still no word on a release date for the game, which had TBA penned against it, so it seems that Take-Two will have to rely on other titles to boost profits in the near future.
Borderlands 2 arrives on September 18th, followed by NBA 2K13 on October 2nd and BioShock Infinite on February 26th next year.
"While our core console business has faced short-term cyclical headwinds, we remain exceedingly optimistic about our company's long-term prospects for growth and profitability," the CEO concluded.