Take-Two misses net bookings guidance as "pressure" builds on new releases

gamedeveloper.com:

Take-Two Interactive championed its "creative achievements" during its latest fiscal report, but noted that net bookings fell slightly below expectations.

The publisher delivered net bookings of $1.38 billion for the third-quarter ended December 31, 2022, but prior guidance indicates the company has expected to pull in between $1.41 billion to $1.46 billion.

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said the company missed that target due to more conservative spending habits, expressing a belief that "consumers displayed more cautionary purchasing behaviours during the Holiday season.

The company also claimed it felt "pressure" on some of its newer releases that are in the "earlier stages of building their player base." Although Take-Two didn't name names, the company's most recent major release is Marvel's Midnight Suns, which launched on PC and consoles on December 2, 2022.

If there's a silver lining for Take-Two, it's that recurrent consumer spending increased by 117 percent year-on-year and accounted for 78 percent of total net bookings. Digitally-delivered net bookings were also up 72 percent to $1.13 billion.

Take-Two said the largest contributors to net bookings were NBA 2K23, Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, Empires & Puzzles, Toon Blast, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online. Regarding recurrent consumer spending specifically, it added that NBA 2K and Grand Theft Auto Online are the "two largest contributors."

"During the third quarter, we continued to execute on our ambition to create the highest-quality, most engaging interactive entertainment franchises in the industry,” said Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO of Take-Two, offering his assessment of the quarter. "Our new game releases and post-launch