Red Dead Redemption 2 Shipped Over 24 MIllion Units As Take-Two Announces “Strong” Financial Results

Take-Two Interactive Software announced today its financial results for the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2019.

The results are defined as “strong” with net revenue growing to $539.0 million, compared to $450.3 million last year.

In the latest quarter recurrent consumer spending (virtual currency, add-on content, and in-game purchases) increased to 54% of the total net revenue.

The largest contributors to creating that revenue were NBA 2K19, Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, Dragon City and Monster Legends, and WWE SuperCard and WWE 2K19.

Digital net revenue was $413.5 million up from $301.4 million year-on-year. It accounted for 77% of total net revenue. Net income was $56.8 million.

Speaking of the whole fiscal year net revenue grew to $2.668 billion, compared to $1.793 billion in the previous year. 40% of it was recurrent. Major contributors were Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, NBA 2K19 and NBA 2K18, WWE 2K19 and WWE SuperCard, Dragon City and Monster Legends, and Sid Meier’s Civilization VI.

Net income increased to $333.8 million.

CEO Strauss Zelnick accompanied the press release with a statement. As usual, he teases sequels for existing franchises coming, alongside new IP.

“Take-Two finished a stellar year with strong fourth quarter operating results highlighted by the outperformance of Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, as well as NBA 2K19, and significant ongoing sales of our blockbuster hit, Red Dead Redemption 2. For the full fiscal year, our Company delivered record Net Bookings and Adjusted Operating Cash Flow, which exceeded our outlook at the start of the year, along with strong earnings growth driven by the record-breaking launch of Red Dead Redemption 2, the outstanding performance of NBA 2K, and better-than expected results from Grand Theft Auto Onlineand Grand Theft Auto V.

“We expect fiscal 2020 to be another strong year for Take-Two, with operating results currently forecasted to be lower than fiscal 2019, due to the extraordinary success of Red Dead Redemption 2, and growing as compared to fiscal 2018.

“Take-Two has the strongest development pipeline in its history, including sequels from our biggest franchises as well as exciting new IP. In addition, we are actively investing in emerging opportunities such as Private Division, mobile games, eSports and geographic expansion that have the potential to be enormous drivers of growth. We are exceedingly well positioned to generate significant growth and margin expansion over the long-term.”

Interestingly, we learned from Zelnick himself during the follow-up conference call that Red Dead Redemption 2 passed 24 units worldwide. Red Dead Online is expected to exit its beta phase this quarter (by June 30 2019).

On the other hand, Grand Theft Auto V has now shipped almost 110 million units.

Both titles by Rockstar combined (included their online components) had almost 90 million registered accounts in the past fiscal year.

Rockstar’s Social Club platform has over 200 million registered accounts.

On top of this, Civilization 6 “significantly” outperformed expectations due to the popularity of the Nintendo Switch version and of the expansion packs.

Below you can read highlights for all of Take-Two’s brands, including Rockstar Games and 2K Games.

Take-Two:

• During fiscal year 2019, the Company repurchased 3.72 million shares of common stock for $362.4 million, including 1.12 million shares for $100.0 million during the fiscal fourth quarter.

Rockstar Games:

• Continued to update the Red Dead Online Beta with new content, gameplay balancing and bug fixes, including the following:
  • Showdown Modes, including Plunder, Up in Smoke and Spoils of War. These player-versus-player modes are tight, dramatic competitive matches that allow for quick structured gameplay sessions;
  • Target Races, where players shoot targets while on horseback to pass checkpoints while racing and be first to finish;
  • Fishing Challenge, a new Competitive Challenge to the Free Roam Event rotation, in which players compete to catch the most weight in fish;
  • Gun Rush, where players gather weapons and ammunition while the play area shrinks in this mode for up to 32 players. Available to play in Free-for-All and Team variations, where the last one standing wins;
  • Numerous new Weapons, Clothing, Emotes and more.
• Released new numerous new missions, vehicles, weapons and other content for Grand Theft Auto Online.

2K:

• Announced that Borderlands 3, the next installment in the critically acclaimed shooter-looter series from Gearbox Software, will launch worldwide on September 13, 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC. At launch, Borderlands 3will be available for PC exclusively through the Epic Games store and will be available on additional PC digital storefronts in April 2020. The franchise, which combines the exhilarating action of a first-person shooter with the rich progression and loot systems of a role-playing game, has sold-in more than 43 million units worldwide, and Borderlands 2 still draws in more than one million unique monthly users more than six years after the game’s initial release in 2012.
• Launched the Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC. This brand new definitive version of the original game boasts ultra HD remastered graphics, significant quality-of-life content updates, and includes all add-on content. In addition, Gearbox and 2K released an Ultra HD Texture Pack that increases the visual fidelity of Borderlands: The Handsome Collection on consoles, and provides a visual upgrade for Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and all the game add-ons for both titles on PC.
• Launched Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm for Windows PC. Developed by Firaxis Games, Gathering Storm is the largest and most financially successful expansion pack ever created for a Civilization game,and thesecond pack for the critically-acclaimed and award-winning Sid Meier’s Civilization VI.
• Released NBA 2K Mobile as a free download for Android devices. Previously launched on iOS phones and tablets, NBA 2K Mobile enables players to experience console quality graphics on the go while they collect their favorite NBA players, build dream teams, and step onto the court in lifelike 5v5 match-ups.
• Announced that video game industry veteran Michael Condrey has joined 2K as President of the label’s new game development studio based in Silicon Valley. Condrey is best known for co-founding Sledgehammer Games and leading development for the renowned Call of Duty franchise, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Condrey also served as Chief Operating Officer and Director at Visceral Games in establishing the popular Dead Space franchise. In his new role with 2K, Condrey will build and lead a new development team to work on an unannounced project.
• Announced, together with The National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), a significant, multiyear global partnership extension. The agreement expands upon the success of NBA 2K, the top-rated and top-selling NBA video game simulation series for the past 17 years* that has sold-in over 90 million units worldwide.

Private Division:

• Revealed that The Outer Worlds, a new intellectual property created by Obsidian Entertainment, and Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, the debut title from Panache Digital Games, which are both planned for launch in calendar 2019 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, will be available for PC exclusively through Epic Games store for 12-months. The Outer Worlds can also be purchased at the Microsoft Windows store.

Social Point:

• Launched Word Life, our latest free-to-play mobile offering, for iOS and Android devices. The game brings a new dimension to traditional word puzzle games, boasting a multiplayer mode where players can battle with words in exciting match-offs to see who is the most-skilled competitor.
• Launched Tasty Town for iOS and Android devices. This all-new free-to-play mobile game enables players to fulfill their culinary dreams of designing and managing their own restaurant

We then get the outlook for the next fiscal year.

• GAAP net revenue is expected to range from $2.7 to $2.8 billion
• GAAP net income is expected to range from $389 to $418 million
• GAAP diluted net income per share is expected to range from $3.39 to $3.65
• Share count used to calculate both GAAP and management reporting diluted net income per share is expected to be 114.6 million ⁽⁴⁾
• Net cash provided by operating activities is expected to be over $430 million
• Adjusted Operating Cash Flow (Non-GAAP) is expected to be over $450 million
• Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $90 million
• Net Bookings (operational metric) are expected to range from $2.5 to $2.6 billion

Lastly, you can read the titles in the pipeline for the publisher.

If you want to compare, you can read the results for the previous quarter, released in February.