It turns out that the company that makes Grand Theft Auto also knows how to make money.
Take-Two Interactive reported the results of its fiscal second quarter today, and the company revealed that it generated $364.9 million in revenue. That’s a 169 percent year-over-year increase and well beyond the $318.3 million that Wall Street was expecting. That income led to the company also reporting earnings of 15 cents per share, which also demolished estimates of 3 cents. This shows the continued strength of Take-Two’s NBA and Grand Theft Auto games, and the quarter sets Take-Two up to hit its full-year guidance as it goes into the holidays with WWE 2K16.
“Take-Two once again delivered better-than-expected [revenue] and earnings growth,” Take-Two chief executive Strauss Zelnick said in a canned statement. “Our second quarter results were anchored by the series record-breaking launch of NBA 2K16, along with ongoing demand for Grand Theft Auto V and strong growth in recurrent consumer spending.”
That last point refers to GTA: Online, which has an in-game purchases that encourage GTA fans to spend cash to get ahead. This mode has repeatedly performed well for Take-Two and developer Rockstar, and that trend is continuing well into the last months of 2015.
“Our holiday season is off to a great start, including the successful release of WWE 2K16, and we expect the installed base of new-gen consoles to expand further and broaden our global audience,” said Zelnick.
Looking ahead, Take-Two isn’t just planning for a big holiday, it is also looking forward to early 2016 when it will release its sci-fi strategy game XCOM 2 for PC. That comes in February, which is a month before the end of the publisher’s fiscal 2016 on March 30. And the company will need that game because it is now moving the release of Battleborn, its League of Legends-inspired shooter, to May 3.
Despite that delay, Take-Two is actually increasing its outlook for the entirety of its fiscal 2016. Where the company previously expected to make 75 cents to $1 per share for the year, it is now anticipating it will earn closer to $1 to $1.15 per share.