Take-Two Interactive saw its net bookings fall below expectations during its fiscal 2023 third quarter as consumers shifted holiday spending toward “established blockbuster franchises” and titles with promotional discounts, the company said on Monday.
For the three months ending on Dec. 31, Take-Two brought in $1.41 billion in revenue but reported a net operating loss at $172.9 million. Net bookings, which reflects products and services sold digitally and physically, rose 60 percent year-over-year to $1.38 billion during the quarter but fell short of company forecasts of bookings between $1.41 billion to $1.46 billion. During the quarter, titles like NBA 2K23, Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online and Words With Friends contributed most to the bookings.
As a result of an “environment that is in many ways more challenging than we anticipated,” Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said, the company is lowering its fiscal 2023 bookings guidance to $5.2 billion to $5.25 billion, down from $5.4 billion to $5.5 billion.
Take-Two is also seeking $50 million in cost reductions, with a focus on “corporate and publishing functions,” that will begin to realize in the current quarter, the company said in its earnings release. The reductions will come in addition to the $100 million in “cost synergies” stemming from its $12.7 billion Zynga acquisition.
Lainie Goldstein, Take-Two’s chief financial officer, told analysts to expect the $50 million figure to rise as it is part of an “ongoing” cost reduction program at the company. “These are permanent and structural changes to the organization’s overall corporate overheard structure,” Goldstein said, pointing to “efficiency” as a core tenant of Take-Two.
