Take-Two Q1 - GTA 5 TBA, making "substantial progress"

Grand Theft Auto V has remained a steadfast "TBA" in Take-Two's Q1 2013 financial release today, but the publisher assured the game is making "substantial progress".

Take-Two said in its first quarter financial call today that Grand Theft Auto V is "in full development and showing substantial progress," but didn't issue any other information on the game. The next in core's greatest franchise remained TBA in terms of both date and platform.

Company head Strauss Zelnick refused to be drawn on a direct question as to whether or not GTA V will release this year: "We haven't talked about a release date, so we can't talk about the credibility of a release date we haven't announced."

Zelnick was similarly tight-mouthed on Agent: "We haven't announced anything about the title yet."

The publishers numbers were also disappointing. Net revenue for the quarter was was $226.1 million, down from $334.4 million in the same period last year. Take-Two recorded a $110.8 million loss for the period, widened from $8.6 million in Q1 2012.

Executives blamed the slow figures on low sales of both Spec Ops: The Line and Max Payne 3.

Max Payne 3 has now sold-in more than 3 million units to date. New DLC will extend into the autumn.

Looking forward into the rest of the year was more positive, however. Borderlands 2 pre-orders are currently the third highest in Take-Two's history, behind only GTA IV and GTA San Andreas. The RPG-shooter sequel will release in September.

Catalog sales grew 50% year-over-year and accounted for 26% of net revenue. Revenue from digitally delivered content grew 33% year-over-year and accounted for 14% of net revenue, driven by offerings for the Sid Meier’s Civilization franchise, the Grand Theft Auto franchise, the Max Payne franchise, NBA 2K12, and Red Dead Redemption.

Publisher boss Strauss Zelnick opened the investor call by calling the results "below expectation".

[Pic]