Take-Two Interactive Software reported that its net bookings hit $1.47 billion in the fiscal second quarter ended September 30, up 2% from $1.44 billion a year ago.

The bookings growth was driven by sales of the Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands franchises, and the company reiterated its out look for net bookings for the year ending March 31, 2025. On a non-GAAP basis, Take-Two said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA, a key measure of profitability) was a loss of $75.5 million in the quarter.

All eyes are on Take-Two, as Rockstar Games on schedule to publish Grand Theft Auto VI in the fall of next year, about 13 years after the debut of Grand Theft Auto V, which has now sold 205 million copies. Take-Two’s stock is up 3% to $173 a share in after-hours trading.

“I am pleased to report that we delivered strong second quarter results,” said Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, in a statement. “Our net bookings of $1.47 billion were at the top of our guidance range, driven by the continued success of the Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands franchises, and our operating results
surpassed our plans, largely due to a shift in the timing of marketing expenses within the year.”

Zelnick added, “Our execution has been consistent, and our teams continue to make great progress advancing our development pipeline. Accordingly, we are reiterating our fiscal year 2025 net bookings guidance range of $5.55 to $5.65 billion, and we are confident that we will achieve sequential increases and record levels of Net Bookings in fiscal years 2026 and 2027.”

And he said, “As we look ahead, we believe that Take-Two remains exceedingly well-positioned for the long-term. Our vision is clear, our talent is unparalleled, and we have one of the strongest portfolios of owned intellectual property in our industry. With many exciting new titles coming in Fiscal 2026 – including Grand Theft Auto VI in the fall, Borderlands 4 and Mafia: The Old Country – we expect to create long-term value for our shareholders.”

During the quarter, the company said it sold the Private Division label, which focuses on third-party original indie titles. But it did not name the buyer.

The $1.47 billion in bookings were at the top of the guidance range.

In other details, net bookings from recurrent consumer spending grew 6% and accounted for 81% of total net bookings in the quarter. The largest contributors to net bookings were NBA 2K25 and NBA 2K24, Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, and Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online.

In the more casual/mobile games, Take-Two said the quarter benefited from sales for Toon Blast, the hyper-casual mobile portfolio, and Zynga’s titles including Match Factory!, Empires & Puzzles, Words With Friends and Toy Blast.

Recurrent consumer spending is generated from ongoing consumer engagement and includes virtual currency, add-on content, in-game purchases and in-game advertising.

Net bookings is Take-Two’s operational metric and defined as the net amount of products and services sold digitally or sold-in physically during the period, and includes licensing fees, merchandise, in-game advertising, strategy guides and publisher incentives.

On a GAAP accounting basis, net revenue increased 4% to $1.35 billion, as compared to $1.30 billion in last year’s fiscal second quarter. Recurrent consumer spending increased 8% and accounted for 80% of total GAAP net revenue.

On a GAAP basis, the net loss was $365.5 million, or $2.08 per share, as compared to $543.6 million, or $3.20 per share, for the comparable period last year.

Outlook

For the third fiscal quarter ending December 31, the company expects net bookings to be $1.35 billion to $1.4 billion, and non-GAAP EBITDA to be $78 million to $100 million.

For the GAAP fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, Take-Two expects net revenue to be $5.57 billion to $5.67 billion. The GAAP net loss is expected to be $775 million to $839 million, while non-GAAP EBITDA is expected to be $282 million to $336 million.

The largest contributors to net bookings are expected to be NBA 2K, the Grand Theft Auto series, Toon Blast, our hyper-casual mobile portfolio, Match Factory, Empires & Puzzles, the Red Dead Redemption series, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, and Words with Friends.

The net bookings outlook is expected to be in a range of $5.55 billion to $5.65 billion, which represents 5% growth over FY24.

Take-Two now expect RCS to grow approximately 4%, representing 78% of Net Bookings. This is up slightly from the prior forecast of 3%, driven by NBA 2K. The RCS forecast continues to assume a high single digit increase for mobile, driven by Match Factory and Toon Blast, partially offset by declines in the hyper-casual mobile portfolio and Empires and Puzzles. NBA 2K is expected to grow low single digits, which is up from the prior forecast of flat, while Grand Theft Auto Online is still expected to decline.

Take-Two project the net bookings from labels to be roughly 51% Zynga, 32% 2K, and 17% Rockstar Games. The company forecasts geographic net bookings split to be about 60% United States and 40% International. Non-GAAP Adjusted Unrestricted Operating Cash Flow is expected to be an outflow of $150 million, which is unchanged from the prior forecast, and the company remains on track to deploy approximately $140 million of capital expenditures, primarily for game technology and office buildouts.

The outlook assumes a continuation of the current economic backdrop.

Game information

Since July 1, Take-Two released Zynga’s Game of Thrones Legends on mobile and NBA 2K25 on the consoles and PC. In the near future, releases include Sid Meier’s Civilization VII on the console and PC on February 11, 2025. GTA VI doesn’t have a specific launch date other than the fall of calendar 2025.

2K will publish WWE 2K25 in the March 2025 quarter. Borderlands fall is coming in the year ending March 31, 2026, as is 2K’s Mafia: The Old Country. Zynga’s CSR Racing 3 will come out on mobile at some time in the future, as will Ghost Story Games’ Judas.

The slight increase in net bookings was largely driven by a modest increase in net bookings, as well as mix of business. In the period, 82% of console game sales were delivered digitally, up from 75% last year. Catalog accounted for $366.1 million (48.7% of non-mobile net bookings). Take-Two has 37 titles in the works through March 31, 2027.

Rockstar Games

Sales of Grand Theft Auto V outperformed expectations and, to date, the title has sold-in more than 205 million units worldwide. Grand Theft Auto Online also exceeded plans, driven by sustained engagement with the Summer content pack Bottom Dollar Bounties, and an array of updates.

Momentum also continued within GTA+, as Rockstar grew its membership by 35% over last year, and added the classic title, Bully, to the library of available games.

Red Dead Redemption 2 posted another good quarter. The title has sold-in more than 67 million units to-date and, six years after its release, still ranks in the top ten for unit sales globally, according to GSD. Rockstar Games was pleased to expand its audience further with the successful launch of Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare for PC on October 29.

2K

On September 6, 2K and Visual Concepts launched NBA 2K25, which scored among the highest ratings on new generation consoles in recent franchise history.

The game has 9,000 new ProPLAY animations that provide increased authenticity; an all-new dribble engine, representing the biggest technological update in the series’ 26-year history; and a more interactive and engaging experience in The City.

To-date, the title has sold-in nearly 4.5 million units and achieved phenomenal RCS performance, the company said. Compared to NBA 2K24 for the same period last year, NBA 2K25 delivered meaningful double-digit growth in average revenue per user and 40% growth in average games per user.

2K’s catalog also outperformed, led by the popular Borderlands franchise. Now that Gearbox has officially joined the 2K and Take-Two family, Take-Two said it is eager to capitalize on the many potential growth opportunities for Borderlands, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and other Gearbox titles.

Zynga

Zynga delivered another quarter of solid results. Match Factory is scaling rapidly and is on track to become Zynga’s second largest title by the end of this year in terms of projected annual net bookings. The title grew approximately 16% over last quarter, driven by its engaging gameplay, including the recent Star Race bold beat, and our strategic investments in user acquisition.

Toon Blast is maintaining its fantastic path of growth, with Net Bookings increasing more than 50% over last year, as our teams deploy highly engaging new features, including new single player and team based events and social challenges.

The blended monetization efforts in hyper-casual are advancing well. In particular, Screw Jam remains a top fifty game in the U.S. Apple App Store. Nordeus released the highly anticipated 2025 edition of the popular soccer manager game, Top Eleven. Backed by a month-long marketing campaign, the release generated positive sentiment around the community, which helped solidify the largest in-app purchase spending per active user in the game’s 14-year history.

During the quarter, Zynga launched Game of Thrones: Legends, and Take-Two is excited about the label’s future mobile launches, including CSR 3 – Street Car Racing.

Private Division

Take-Two said it made the strategic decision to sell the Private Division label (aimed at third-party indie game publishing) to focus resources on growing its core and mobile businesses for the long-term. As part of this transaction, the buyer purchased the rights to substantially all of Private Division’s live and unreleased titles.

Take-Two will continue to support No Rest for the Wicked, which launched in early access on PC in April.
The company said it is grateful for the contributions that the Private Division team has made to its company and is confident that Private Division will continue to achieve success in its new home.

As for the number of employees, Take-Two closed the September 30 quarter with 13,077 people, including 10,273 in-house development studio staff. Those numbers were up, respectively,by 110 jobs and 125 jobs. About 22% of staff were in low-cost locations (India, China, Turkey, Serbia, Chile, and Hungary).

Strauss Zelnick interview

I asked if the U.S. presidential election would have an effect on Take-Two’s future or perhaps gaming’s future.

Zelnick said, “We’re an entertainment company. We’re focused on entertainment, not politics. I’m really excited about our future.

Asked about the decision to sell Private Division and if it was a tough time for original intellectual property, Zelnick said, “I think it’s always a tough time for new IP. We beat the risk in Private Division, and that risk was based on a thesis that there were a lot of great independent creators out there we could work with and perhaps build some massive franchises within that division.”

He added, “The team did a great job, led by Michael Worosz. Virtually everything that they invested in did well, and Outer Worlds did really, really, really well. But nothing, nothing broke out to the level of one of the core intellectual properties at 2K or Rockstar, and our real mission and vision is to make the biggest hits in the entertainment system. That’s what we do. We do that in mobile. We do that in content.”

That led to the decision to divest.

Zelnick said Rockstar hasn’t announced a new GTA Online for GTA 6, and he said the labels make such announcements. But he noted that the company doesn’t necessarily have to sunset prior iterations in online as it launches brand new titles. As an example, in China, NBA 2K Online coexists with NBA 2K Online 2.

Regarding the Nintendo talk about about backward compatibility for Switch games, Zelnick said, “I’m always optimistic when people are investing in the business and seeking to innovate.” A spokesman added that the company is always happy with platforms that offer backward compatibility, given the strength of Take-Two’s catalog. In an analyst call, Zelnick said, “Never count Nintendo out.”

As for layoffs across gaming, Zelnick said, “I think that most companies have gotten to whatever restructuring they needed to do. And as you know, the industry is going once again, and I think it will remain the fastest growing part of the entertainment business for some time to come.”

Since Take-Two capitalizes its costs, Rockstar’s spending on GTA 6 shows up on the balance sheet for now, and the company expects to incur marketing fees around the launch, said Hannah Sage, EVP of finance and chief accounting officer, in an interview with GamesBeat. She said the company largely hit its financial targets.

Regarding Borderlands movie, Zelnick said in an analyst call that it was disappointing and the results were not material to Take-Two’s financials and so it did not break them out. The box office was $31 million, with costs above $110 million. He said it drove some incremental game sales.

And now Smartprix has shown the listing for a smartphone with the market name “Galaxy” and model number SM-S937U in the GSMA IMEI database. Smartprix says Samsung typically adds smartphones it’s working on testing internally to the database before launching it six to seven months later, and this model number lines up with others that line up with the usual Galaxy standard, Plus, and Ultra phones.

Other details are unknown, besides that the U indicates it should see a release in the US. The iPhone’s slim variant, however, could debut in the third quarter and cost more than even Apple’s current most expensive model, the iPhone Pro Max, with a 6.6-inch display and just one rear-facing camera, according to reports from The Information and others.

Samsung might have to change a few parts to accommodate a different design, so it’s possible a slim Galaxy could cut back on the processor, display, battery, and camera capabilities. So, if the AI features in the Galaxy S24 and iPhone 16 weren’t enough to make you upgrade, maybe next year we’ll find out if making it really thin can do the trick.

• The public betas of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2 and macOS 15.2 are now available
• They have new Apple Intelligence features like Genmoji and Image Playground
• The new update also adds ChatGPT integration to Siri

iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 public betas are now available for users who want to try brand-new Apple Intelligence features such as ChatGPT in Siri, Genmoji, and Image Playground.

The new software has been in developer beta for a few weeks and now the public can download and install the update with brand new Apple intelligence tools.

A Scottish children’s hospital charity has introduced a gamer in residence for young patients in Glasgow.

The new job involves visiting children to play video games with them, preventing boredom and providing some light relief.

Steven Mair, who was appointed by the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, says gaming has already provided huge benefits to the patients.

He said that playing Mario Kart has improved the mobility of a patient’s hand and that it was also a useful tool in distracting the children during medical procedures.

“One of my first sessions here at the hospital was a patient who was on a plasma exchange and that can be quite intrusive”, he added.

“When I went in to play with that patient, it kept him distracted throughout the whole procedure.”

Josephine, the mum of eight-year-old Laura Jayne, said her daughter had been in hospital for six months.

She said: “It’s been really good just to pass the time. Sometimes it helps her to interact with the gamers. She really gets a lot out of it.”

Strands is a brand new daily puzzle from the New York Times. A trickier take on the classic word search, you’ll need a keen eye to solve this puzzle.

Like Wordle, Connections, and the Mini Crossword, Strands can be a bit difficult to solve some days. There’s no shame in needing a little help from time to time. If you’re stuck and need to know the answers to today’s Strands puzzle, check out the solved puzzle below.

How to play Strands

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strand answers

Today’s spanagram

We’ll start by giving you the spangram, which might help you figure out the theme and solve the rest of the puzzle on your own:

Today’s Strands answers

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Earlier this year, an Indiana resident, Judy May, filed a class action lawsuit against Google. The plaintiff accused the Mountain View giant of illegally profiting from the Google Play gift card scams by refusing to refund victims. Fast forward to today, the US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman has dismissed the lawsuit concluding that Google is not liable for any losses incurred by such a gift card scam.

Google wins the lawsuit filed over gift card scam

Yesterday, Reuters reported that Google won this case because the plaintiff, Judy May, failed to prove her accusations. Judy May reportedly couldn’t prove how Google was responsible for her losses. Neither was she able to prove that Google knowingly received the stolen funds in front of the court.

The Judge also said that Google was not liable for keeping the standard 15% to 30% commission on purchases made by the scammer with the gift cards. That’s because this practice from Google was unrelated to the initial fraud.

The plaintiff, Judy May, suffered a loss of $1,000 after falling victim to a gift card scam in April 2021. The scammer posing as her relative tricked May into buying Google Play gift cards saying she might get federal grant money. Sadly, May not only bought the gift cards but also provided the gift card codes to the scammer who then used them to make purchases.

What was the lawsuit about

The lawsuit argued that the tech giant should have warned consumers about gift card scams. And, that those asking for payment with cards could be scammers. Although the District Court Judge dismissed the lawsuit, Judy May still has the option to refile her case. However, the judge has permanently dismissed her claims for triple damages.

Well, this is just one case. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Americans alone have lost $217 million in gift card or reload card fraud. Moreover, the actual amount might be much higher as the number is only an estimation based on reported cases.