Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive Software expects to make around $1.8 billion in revenue over the next year. That’s a mammoth number that is around $600 million more than it made in its fiscal 2013.
The craziest thing about those figures is that Take-Two believes that Rockstar will account for around $1.1 billion of that total. Take-Two subsidiary 2K Games will account for 35 percent. The publisher is basing that guidance on the expected sales of seven new 2K titles and just one new Rockstar release.
That one Rockstar game? Grand Theft Auto V, of course.
Take-Two has a lot riding on that open-world crime title, so naturally it is planning a massive marketing push to help inform the world about the GTA V’s Sept. 17 release for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Speaking on a conference call with investors, Take-Two president Strauss Zelnick said the company is planning an innovative marketing campaign for the game. Take-Two is skipping out on the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show in Los Angeles in early June so that it can instead hold its own promotional events for GTA V during the summer.
“I’m really proud of our marketing, ” said Zelnick. “Every time we release a major title we have to innovate. When we market something in an innovative way the industry takes notice, and we notice when our competitors do something innovative. Marketing continues to be an important part of what makes us so successful.”
Zelnick wouldn’t elaborate on what exactly would make these events innovative. He says we’ll all get to see as they unfold.
So far, we’ve got a bunch of good looks at GTA V thanks to developer Rockstar releasing some trailers a few weeks ago. It follows the story of three men as they fall into a criminal underworld.
Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most anticipated releases for the last half of 2013, but it will also have to compete, indirectly, with the hype for Microsoft’s and Sony’s new consoles. GTA V is not scheduled for either of those systems at this time.