Take-Two bookings fall 18% with GTA VI launch in 10 days

Take-Two Interactive’s main operating metric, net bookings, fell 18% to $1.60 billion in the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, from $1.96 billion a year earlier and slightly below its $1.62-$1.67 billion August forecast. That gap matters because Take-Two’s fiscal-year case now rests heavily on a release 10 days away.

Take-Two reiterated net bookings of $8.0 billion to $8.2 billion for the fiscal year ending March 2027, with Grand Theft Auto VI scheduled for Nov. 19 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Chief Executive Strauss Zelnick said: “The launch of Grand Theft Auto VI is ten days away and, with pre-orders continuing to reach unprecedented levels, we expect to deliver an historic year for our company.”

How did the quarter perform?

GAAP net revenue fell 16% to $1.50 billion from $1.77 billion, above Take-Two’s $1.42-$1.47 billion guidance. The net loss narrowed to $54.0 million, or $0.29 a diluted share, from $133.9 million, or $0.73, even as the operating loss widened to $117.5 million from $98.0 million. A $57.9 million tax benefit provided the cushion.

Metric	Q2 FY2027 (Sept. 2026)	Q1 FY2027 (June 2026)	Q2 FY2026 (Sept. 2025)
Net bookings	$1,601.3M	$1.39B	$1,960.5M
GAAP net revenue	$1,497.0M	$1,533.9M	$1,773.8M
Gross profit	$860.4M	$882.5M	$980.5M
Operating loss	($117.5M)	($35.5M)	($98.0M)
Net loss	($54.0M)	($34.1M)	($133.9M)
Diluted EPS	($0.29)	($0.18)	($0.73)

Gross profit was $860.4 million, down from $980.5 million a year earlier and $882.5 million in the preceding quarter.

Operating cash flow was an outflow of $173.5 million in the first half as Take-Two built prepaid expenses and inventory and spent $163.3 million on fixed assets. It ended September with $1.15 billion of cash and $524.2 million in short-term investments.

Which businesses softened?

• Recurrent consumer spending from virtual currency and in-game purchases fell 9% and represented 81% of total bookings.
• Full-game and other bookings fell 44% to $299.2 million from $532.2 million.
• Mobile bookings fell 14% to $707.6 million.
• Console bookings fell 18% to $742.6 million.

NBA 2K27, released Sept. 4, was among the biggest contributors to bookings alongside the Grand Theft Auto series and Zynga’s Toon Blast.

What must GTA VI deliver?

The math gets tighter. For fiscal Q3, Take-Two forecasts $3.35 billion to $3.5 billion of net bookings and $3.27 billion to $3.42 billion of GAAP revenue. MLQ calculated that revenue would be about double the $1.70 billion reported a year earlier. The company also expects net income of $250 million to $276 million, or $1.30 to $1.44 a share.

For the full year, Take-Two guides to GAAP revenue of $7.98 billion to $8.18 billion, net income of $109 million to $142 million and operating cash flow of more than $1 billion.

With $2.99 billion of bookings recorded in the first half, the full-year range implies approximately $5.0 billion to $5.2 billion during the second half, according to MLQ’s calculation.

Outside Rockstar, Take-Two’s announced pipeline includes PGA Tour 2K27, WWE 2K27, Ghost Story Games’ Judas and the next BioShock, all without release dates.

How has revenue trended?

MLQ’s SEC-derived quarterly series calculates March-quarter revenue from annual figures less nine-month totals, providing the following GAAP net-revenue history:

Calendar quarter end	GAAP net revenue
Dec. 2024	$1,360M
Mar. 2025	$1,582M
Jun. 2025	$1,504M
Sept. 2025	$1,774M
Dec. 2025	$1,699M
Mar. 2026	$1,680M
Jun. 2026	$1,534M
Sept. 2026	$1,497M

Net bookings, Take-Two’s main operating metric, is not shown in that series.

The next test arrives with GTA VI: Take-Two must turn unprecedented preorder interest into $3.35-$3.5 billion of December-quarter bookings and roughly $5.0-$5.2 billion in the second half, or its $8.0-$8.2 billion target will remain overwhelmingly dependent on one franchise while other releases await dates.