Take-Two CEO says “I’ll choose delays any day over taking some flops.”
During a quarterly report with investors today, Take-Two outlined a number of changes to their expected revenue for the current fiscal year. Most notably the company’s previously projected revenue of $5.73 and $5.83 billion has been altered and lowered to $5.41 and $5.51 billion. Despite this change in expected revenue Take-Two remains “highly optimistic” about its future growth and is confident about its upcoming projects.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick noted that the lowered expectation in revenue was mainly due to less consumer spending on mobile games. Zynga, the mobile developer acquired by Take-Two earlier this year is expected to make up around 45% of the company’s net sales. Despite the downturn for Take-Two Zelnick was adamant that the company’s upcoming “immersive core” games are arguably the “most robust” on the market.
While Take-Two’s “immersive core” games, mainly known in the industry as AAA, have seen “some modest pipeline shifts” Zelnick reassured investors that “the good news is that those games are still coming.” In response to a question asking why it was taking Take-Two so long to put out games under their “robust” system pipeline, Zelnick said that there were no “productivity issues” at Take-Two. Alongside this, Zelnick said that they “definitely have very high-quality expectations and demands, and that’s reflected in the fact that we’re performing across the board,” continuing Zelnick noted “this company is a hit factory. We haven’t had a disappointing release in as long as I can remember, and that’s honestly the most important thing.”
The Take-Two CEO was adamant in his assertion that he’d “choose delays any day over taking some flops.” Two of the most notable games impacted by Take-Two’s adjusted release schedule are Marvel’s Midnight Suns and Kerbal Space Program 2. Marvel’s Midnight Suns saw a delay to its release on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch. Alongside this Kerbal Space Program 2 was changed to early access.
Zelnick noted 87 games are currently on the way from Take-Two’s numerous studios. 38 out of the 87 of these titles will be coming from Take-Two recently acquired Zynga. The current breakdown for Take-Two’s software lineup includes:
- 24 “Immersive Core” games (Marvel’s Midnight Suns, The Quarry, etc.)
- 10 Independent games (Rollerdrome)
- 28 Mobile games (Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy, Star Wars Hunters)
- 7 “Mid-Core” games (New Tales from the Borderlands)
- 8 New Iterations of Previously Released Titles
Source: TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. – SECOND QUARTER FISCAL 2023 RESULTS & GUIDANCE SUMMARY
