Take Two just released its financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal 2016, encompassing the three months ended June 30, 2015, and its numbers are up: Year-on-year, the revenue grew to $366.4 million for the quarter, a 142 percent jump.
Analysts had, however, expected earnings of 36 cents per share for the quarter, and the company turned in earnings of 31 cents per share; this caused the stock to fall in after-hours trading.
The company’s profit leapt to $34.2 million for the quarter, as compared to a loss of $11.2 million for the same period last year.
The company, of course, launched Grand Theft Auto V for PC during the quarter — a GTA launch always boosts its revenues. Digital revenues, however, weren’t just boosted by that title alone. They grew 139 percent year-over-year, with many series contributing, according to the company: Grand Theft Auto, NBA 2K, Borderland, WWE 2K, and Evolve all contributed. The company also released its WWE 2K franchise for phones and PCs for the first time during the quarter.
36 percent of that digital revenue growth came from virtual currency, downloadable content, and online games — fairly significant numbers for a company that up till recently relied on packaged marquee titles (or downloads of them). The company has, of late, been talking up Grand Theft Auto Online as a source of revenue.
The company projects net revenues of $1.3 to 1.4 billion for the year.