T2 Q3: Borderlands 2 moves 6M, digital sales up 244%
Take-Two has reported its Q3 earnings for fiscal year 2013 with profits of $415.8 million compared to $236.3 million year-over-year.
For the period ending December 31, 2012, net income from continuing operations was $70.9 million, with the strongest contributors being the release of NBA 2K13, continuing sales of Borderlands 2 with nearly 6 million sell-in to date, the release of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and catalog sales led by Grand Theft Auto 4 and Red Dead Redemption.
Catalog sales accounted for 22% of net revenue. Revenue from digitally delivered content grew 244% year-over-year and accounted for 23% of net revenue, driven by offerings for the Borderlands franchise - particularly digital sales of Borderlands 2 and its add-on content, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the Grand Theft Auto franchise, and NBA 2K13.
"Take-Two's positive business momentum continued in the third quarter, enabling us to deliver growth and profits that exceeded our outlook," said Strauss Zelnick, chairman and CEO.
"Our results benefited from the record-breaking launch of NBA 2K13, along with continued strong demand for Borderlands 2, the successful launch of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and robust holiday sales of our catalog and growing portfolio of digitally delivered offerings.
"With consumer anticipation building for the launches of BioShock Infinite and Grand Theft Auto 5, we are well positioned for a solid finish to fiscal year 2013 and substantial revenue and earnings growth in fiscal year 2014."
During the call to investors, Zelnick would not be drawn on questions pertaining to next-gen, or GTA 5 going next-gen but stated that Take Two goes "where the audiences are," and supports all all release initiatives if feasible.
"We are not rule-based," he said. "GTA 5 will blow everyone away and not one gamer will hold out on it waiting on something better to come along."
"Assuming next-gen consoles are coming - and some of us think they are, Take-Two will have extraordinary offerings." - Zelnick
However, he did say that navigating the transition from current-gen to next-gen will be "successful" due to the company being both financially strong as well as prepared. Zelnick also said he doesn't think development budgets on next-gen will be any more expensive that development on current-gen products.
"Assuming next-gen consoles are coming - and some of us think they are, Take-Two will have extraordinary offerings when it comes," he said.
The NBA 2K franchise has sold-in more than 15 million units since the release of NBA 2K11 in October 2010. NBA 2K13 has sold-in nearly 4.5 million units to date.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown has seen strong digital sales and a near 90 average review score on Metacritic, and a third DLC is planned for later this year.
Major League Baseball 2K13 is planned for release on March 5, and will feature Tampa Bay pitcher David Price as the cover athlete.
The firm's upcoming release line-up is as follows:
- Borderlands 2: Add-On Content Pack - February 26, 2013
- Major League Baseball 2K13 - March 5, 2013
- BioShock Infinite - March 26, 2013
- Grand Theft Auto 5 - September 17, 2013
- XCOM - Fiscal Year 2014
For the three months ending December 31, 65% of sales came from North America and 35% internationally.
Xbox 360 contributed 43% to sales, PS3 34%, PC and other 18%, Nintendo Wii 2%, and PS2, DS, and PSP each contributed 1% to overall sales.