Losses decrease at Take-Two

Take-Two has announced Q1 revenues up $14 million on last year, from $149m to $163m. The firm took a loss of $34m, down from $54m for the same period in 09.

Staff cuts, inevitably, are being touted, with a 15% headcount cut resulting in savings of $8 million in the current financial year. In an attempt to save money, the firm also recently offloaded its distribution arm Jack of all Games.

Sales hits included BioShock 2 which has shipped 3 million units to date, NBA 2K10 (2 million shipped) and continuing sales of Grand Theft Auto IV which has sold over 15 million units to date. The Wii and DS-centric Carnival Games franchise has hit cumulative sales of over 6 million to date.

Top brass pointed towards promising Q4 releases to come including L.A. Noire, Mafia II, Max Payne 3 and Sid Meier’s Civilization V, with the proviso that some, or all, might slip.

Strauss Zelnick, chairman of Take-Two, said that the result were "better than expected" and talked up DLC as a potential area of growth. He added, "We’ve also taken important steps to improve the efficiency of our business and align our corporate cost structure more closely with our current goals."