Take-Two Interactive dropped 3% in after-hours trading on Thursday (Friday AEST) after the company reported a significant quarterly loss driven by a multi-billion-dollar writedown, following news that the company will delay the release of Grand Theft Auto VI.
The video game publisher posted a fourth-quarter loss of US$3.7 billion (A$5.78 billion), or $21.08 per share, widening from $17.02 a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter rose 13% year-over-year to $1.58 billion, matching growth in Total Net Bookings, which also came in at $1.58 billion, up 17% from the previous fiscal fourth quarter.
Despite the financial hit, the biggest headline for Take-Two came nearly two weeks before the results, when it was announced that the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6, developed by Rockstar Games, would be postponed from a planned fall 2025 release to 26 May 2026.
The company recorded impairment charges of $3.55 billion related to goodwill and $176.3 million linked to acquisition-related intangible assets, bringing the total writedown to more than $3.6 billion.
Recurring consumer spending accounted for 77% of total net bookings, rising 14% from a year earlier. The quarter's top-performing titles included NBA 2K25, Grand Theft Auto Online, GTA V, Civilization VII, Toon Blast, Match Factory!, Empires & Puzzles, Red Dead Redemption 2, Red Dead Online, and WWE 2K25.
Looking ahead, Take-Two forecasts full-year revenue of $5.95 billion to $6.05 billion for fiscal 2026, with a projected net loss between $439 million and $499 million.
That fell short of Wall Street expectations, which called for revenue of $7.72 billion and a profit of $165 million, according to Visible Alpha.
CEO Strauss Zelnick remained optimistic, stating: "Our Fiscal 2026 outlook reflects continuing positive momentum, with Net Bookings guidance of $5.9 to $6.0 billion. As we bring our exciting lineup to market, including Grand Theft Auto VI in Fiscal 2027, we expect to achieve record levels of Net Bookings that will establish a new baseline for our business and set us on a path of enhanced profitability."
At the time of writing, Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) stock was trading at US$225.30, down 3% from Thursday's close of $232.34. Take-Two Interactive's market cap stands at $41.01 billion.
