Take-Two Ships Over 23 Million Copies Of Red Dead Redemption 2
Take-Two has been basking in the glowing press and tremendous sales performance of Red Dead Redemption 2. The game was so well received right out of the gates that it made $725 million in its first three days of availability. Take-Two is the parent company to Rockstar, the developers behind the game. Take-Two has announced its Q3 earnings, and it trounced revenue targets thanks to the massive success of Red Dead Redemption 2.
So far the game has sold 23 million copies through to retail. During the quarter Take-Two net bookings added up to $1.57 billion, exceeding expectations of $1.40 to $1.45 billion. That marks a 140% gain compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Revenue for the quarter was $1.28 billion, higher than the $1.1 to $1.15 billion that was expected.
The online version of the game, Red Dead Online, did very well and is trending ahead of where GTA Online was at the same point in its lifecycle. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick pointed out that Red Dead Online is still a beta offering and says things have gone as well as could be expected. Rockstar has been making changes to the online mode based on player feedback,
Zelnick also noted that Red Dead 2 shipped more in the first 15 days it was available than the first entry in the franchise shipped in its entire 8-year run. Take-Two also noted some other high points for games, as Civilization VI on the Switch "significantly exceeded expectations." Take-Two Sales via DLC and microtransactions grew 31% during the quarter, a surprise since the expectation was for digitally-delivered revenue to remain flat. On the back of the solid Q3 results, Take-Two has raised its guidance for the full financial year ending March 31, 2019. It now expects revenue to range from $2.66 to $2.71 billion with income as high as $367 million.
Despite all the good news, Take-Two stock is actually down around 15 percent today as it issue an earrings guidance warning for the current quarter.
