Earnings Results: Take-Two delaying new ‘Grand Theft Auto’ versions by four months, sticks by outlook

The company said that its Rockstar Games label wants “additional time to further polish the final products” of expanded and enhanced versions of “Grand Theft Auto V” and “Grand Theft Auto Online” for Sony’s
6758,
+0.67%

SONY,
+1.96%
PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Inc.’s
MSFT,
-0.99%
new Xbox series.

Back in August, Take-Two said that it would delay the release of two its “immersive core titles shifting to later in fiscal 2022.” Those titles were not identified at the time and analysts had speculated that the most likely candidates were the next installment of the WWE franchise, “Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands,” and/or a yet-to-be-announced third title from the company’s 2K label.

“We had previously announced that GTA V and GTA Online were coming to next-gen consoles; however, those are ‘new iterations of prior releases,’” a Take-Two spokesman told MarketWatch in emailed comments. “With respect to ‘immersive core titles’, we announced Marvel’s Midnight Suns after we reported our Q1 FY22 results in August. We have announced all our planned ‘immersive core titles’ for FY22.”

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Originally, the release of the versions had been planned for Nov. 11, but now they are slated for release sometime in March 2022. Take-Two’s fiscal year ends on March 31.

Take-Two said it was sticking by its financial forecast made in May and reiterated in August. The company had forecast $1.95 to $2.20 a share on revenue of $3.14 billion to $3.24 billion for the year.

Over the past 12 months, Take-Two shares have declined 1%, while the S&P 500 index
SPX,
-0.46%
has risen 32%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
-0.25%
has grown 37%, and the iShares Expanded Tech Software Sector ETF
IGV,
-0.17%
has gained 38%