Take-Two posts $6m profit

Take-Two has announced net revenues of $354m for its third fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2010 – up from last year’s $95m.

The parent company of Rockstar and 2K Games cited strong sales of Wild West shooter Red Dead Redemption for the jump in revenue. The game has sold 6.9m units since release.

Minus operating costs this gave the firm $6m profit for the quarter, up from a loss of $56m made during the same fiscal period in 2009.

For the nine months ending July 31 Take-Two posted revenues of $785m compared to $419m generated last year. This gives it a loss of $11m for the year so far, up from its bigger loss of $117m made in 2009.

Our strategic focus on producing a select number of high quality titles, diversifying our product portfolio, and capitalizing on new revenue opportunities has enabled Take-Two to deliver significant growth and profitability in the third quarter,” said Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick.

Take-Two CEO Ben Feder added: We expect to be profitable in a fiscal year without a major multi-platform Grand Theft Auto release.

Our fourth quarter roster, including Mafia II, Sid Meier’s Civilization V and NBA 2K11, demonstrates our continued ability to create a well-balanced line-up across all of our labels.”

Take-Two also announced that Rockstar’s upcoming action title LA Noire has been delayed to the first half of 2011. It was originally due out this autumn.