The American video game giant Take-Two released its earning report for Q1 2023 and added Zynga’s numbers in the statement, however, the mobile games giant’s part only includes 39 days over the three-month period that ended June 30.
The GTA bosses at Take-Two announced the acquisition of Zynga back in January 2022, and the deal was completed in late May 2022, making the merger official. The numbers are neither good nor bad, but definitely not satisfying for the combined power of two of the largest video game companies worldwide.
Take-Two Q1 2023 numbers
The gaming entity posted positive year-over-year numbers across almost all key metrics, however, Zynga wasn’t a part of Take-Two back then, hence a direct comparison with the previous period makes almost no sense.
- GAAP Net Revenue: $ 1,102 billion (36% up)
- Operating Expenses: $704 million
- Net Bookings: $1 billion (41% up)
- GAAP net loss: $104 million
- GAAP net loss per share: $0.76
Take-Two also updated its outlook for the fiscal year 2023 Net Bookings of $5.8 billion to $5.9 billion, after including Zynga’s numbers in the report.
During the three-month period ended June 30, 2022, Take-Two saw growth in recurrent consumer spending across titles like NBA 2K22, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and Top Eleven. The company said these games performed above expectations.
According to the official report —combined with Zynga— Take-Two’s recurrent consumer spending (RCs) was up by 48%, but without Zynga, it’s down by 10%, however, digitally-delivered net bookings growth is up by 41% with Zynga, and up by 2% even without Zynga’s inclusion. Not great, of course, but still a minor growth.
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said:
“This has been a milestone period in the history of our Company, as we closed our combination with Zynga. This transaction firmly establishes Take-Two’s position as one of the largest pure-play interactive entertainment companies in the world. We are home to the industry’s top creative talent and we own and control an exceptional, diverse portfolio of intellectual properties encompassing all key platforms and genres.
“We are exceedingly optimistic about the long-term growth potential for the mobile industry, as well as our ability to create greater shareholder value as a combined entity. Over the past few months, we have made significant progress in our integration efforts.
“Looking ahead, our long-term vision is clearer than ever, and we believe that our combination with Zynga will enable us to capitalize better on the evolving dynamics of the interactive entertainment industry.”
The CEO also went into detail on how each Take-Two company performed during this period.
Sales performance of Take-Two’s games
Rockstar Games’ titles continue to perform well; in regards to both game sales and in-game purchases. Take-Two also stated that GTA Online’s community numbers reached “a new normal” and it’s up by 49% compared to the pre-pandemic Q1 of fiscal 2020.
Take-Two says Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA V) sales remain strong and the game sold nearly 170 million copies in its lifetime. Another Rockstar hit, Red Dead Redemption 2 also reached a new milestone by crossing 45 million sales to this day.
NBA 2K22 also performed above expectations, and the game saw a 16% increase in average games played per year. The company also mentioned that NBA 2K22 Arcade Edition is still the number one game on Apple Arcade since its launch. T2 is preparing to launch NBA 2K23 in September 2022.
The report also mentions Tiny Tina’s Wonderland (a Borderlands title) and Supermassive Games’ latest release, The Quarry, stating that both games performed well and met the expectations, the prior even exceeding them.
How Zynga’s games are doing
Overall, Take-Two is happy with how the mobile game giant is doing. Istanbul-based Rollic Games is mentioned multiple times across the report. Rollic launched 11 games during this period, and Colors Runners! reached the number one spot in most downloaded games in the US App Store back in June.
The developer is hard at work “and will continue to release a high volume of mobile titles” said Zelnick.
Meanwhile, Zynga’s heavy hitters Zynga Poker, Words With Friends, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells, and Empires & Puzzles all got major content updates to drive sales.
Take-Two also delayed the full launch of Star Wars: Hunters to 2023, this was the second time the 4v4 Star Wars combat game was delayed.
The last quarter also saw Zynga’s President Bernard Kim leave the company to join Match Group as its new CEO.
