Take Two Posts Losses, Faces Tough Year

Can you compare 2008 with 2009? When it comes to financial reports coming from big videogames companies, you need to, although the comparison might be a bit unfair.

After all, in the same period of last year, Take Two handled the publishing duties for Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV, a blockbuster that managed to get the record for a Guinness World Record for the Highest Grossing Video Game in 24 Hours. In 2009, the company has had no such hit.

Revenue for the last quarter for Take Two has gone down by more than 50% to reach 229.7 million dollars. The income has also shrunk, as the publisher has reported a loss of 10.1 million dollars, while last year profits were up to about 100 million.

Ironically, while the comparison to last year is brought down by the release of GTA IV, some releases related to it were amongst the big performers for the quarter that ended on April 30. Chinatown Wars, which was released for the Nintendo DS, joined the first piece of DLC for GTA IV, The Lost & Damned, as the biggest game for Take Two in the last three months. Another bright spot in the sales report has been Major League Baseball 2K9.

The publisher is saying that it expects to register further losses in the coming quarter, as it has no big releases planned. It announced that two of its upcoming titles, Red Dead Redemption and Mafia II, would face a delay, while the second piece of DLC for GTA IV, The Ballad of Gay Tony, will not come out until fall.

Overall, Take Two believes that it will only manage a little over 1 billion in sales this year, while it is safe from any financing issues, as it has some 180 million dollars in reserves.