Take-Two achieves non-GTA profit

A long-term goal was finally achieved at the offices of publisher Take-Two last night – it was able to announce a year of overall profit without releasing a Grand Theft Auto title.

For the year ending October 31st profit hit $42.5m. In the year before Take-Two endured a $140m loss. Annual revenues were up 65 per cent at $1.15bn.

Looking at the last quarter of the year, income reached $53.8m, up year-on-year from a $23.5m loss. Revenue was up 32 per cent at $374m. All of these numbers were significantly ahead of estimates.

"We have achieved our goal of profitability in a year without a new release of Grand Theft Auto," said Take-Two CEO Ben Feder, who will be relinquishing his role next month.

He also noted that "digital continued to be a meaningful component of Take-Two’s sales" throughout the period, with digital contributing a total of $94m throughout the year.

Successes included NBA 2K11, Mafia II, Civilization V and Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Collection. Red Dead Redemption continued to perform with sales now having passed 8m units and the publisher’s licensed Nickelodeon catalogue also remains strong.

"They are blowing out expectations," Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey said of the numbers, while Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter added that "the company appears to be on a path to consistent profitability".