Take-Two’s fiscal year 2016 was stronger than expected thanks to XCOM 2 and Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto V hasn’t run out of gas yet.

Take-Two released its financial results for the fiscal year 2016 today, posting a GAAP (generally accepted accounting practices) net revenue of $1.414 billion, up 31 percent from the previous year. The fourth quarter was at $377.2 million in GAAP net revenue, up from $300.1 million during the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP revenue was slightly down for the year ($1.561 billion compared to $1.669 billion the previous year) and quarter ($342.5 million compared to $427.7 million for fiscal fourth quarter 2015).

These non-GAAP numbers were better than expectations from within the company. The fiscal year was short on major releases for the publisher, so it had to depend on the continued success of Grand Theft Auto V (which came out back in 2013) and annual sports franchises like NBA and WWE (it also entered into a new multiyear deal with the wrestling company during the year, which will ensure it can continue to make money off the brand in the future). Non-GAAP revenues from digital content grew 36 percent year-over-year to a record $835.2 million for the company.

“Fiscal 2016 marked the third consecutive year of stronger-than-expected Non-GAAP revenues and profits for Take-Two,” said Strauss Zelnick, chairman and chief executive officer of Take-Two, in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “Our results were driven by the continued extraordinary performance of Grand Theft Auto V, ongoing momentum in our NBA 2K and WWE 2K series, the successful launch of XCOM 2, and our highest-ever revenue from recurrent consumer spending.”

Next year, Take-Two is projecting non-GAAP revenues of $1.5 to $1.6 billion for the next fiscal year and $225 to $260 million for the next quarter. The company will release major games including Civilization VI and Mafia III during fiscal 2017. Battleborn, which launched earlier this month, will also be a part of fiscal 2017. The report also noted that Rockstar Games, developer of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption, is working on a new project that the company will announce soon.