Take-Two Interactive Software Q2 2026 Earnings Report

Take-Two Interactive Software EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $1.04
• Consensus EPS: $0.91
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.13
• One Year Ago EPS: -$2.08

Take-Two Interactive Software Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $1.77 billion
• Expected Revenue: $1.71 billion
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$62.51 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +33.30%

Take-Two Interactive Software Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 11/6/2025
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, November 6, 2025
• Conference Call Time: 4:30PM ET

Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ:TTWO) is an American video game publisher headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1993 by Ryan Brant, the company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker TTWO and is led by Chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick. Take-Two operates through distinct publishing labels that manage development, marketing and distribution of interactive entertainment for a global audience.

Take-Two’s publishing portfolio includes Rockstar Games and 2K, as well as the Private Division label, which supports independent and mid-size developers. Its major franchises span a variety of genres and platforms and include Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar), as well as 2K-owned series such as NBA 2K, BioShock, Borderlands and Civilization. The company distributes games across consoles, PC and mobile devices and supports titles post-launch with downloadable content, live-service updates and in-game offerings.

Take-Two serves markets worldwide, leveraging digital distribution, licensing and merchandising to extend franchise value and recurring consumer engagement. The company pursues a mix of internally developed projects, third‑party publishing partnerships and strategic investments to broaden its content and technical capabilities. Take-Two’s business model emphasizes high-quality, narrative-driven blockbuster titles alongside recurring-revenue sports and live-service products to sustain long-term player communities and commercial performance.

Take-Two Interactive Software Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Record Q2 — Take‑Two reported net bookings of $1.96 billion (the best second quarter in company history) and raised fiscal 2026 net bookings guidance to $6.4–$6.5 billion, citing broad outperformance across titles.
• Positive Sentiment: Mobile strength & D2C tailwinds — Zynga and mobile studios outperformed (Toon Blast +26% YoY, Match Factory +20%, Rollic records), and expanded direct‑to‑consumer payment capabilities are expected to lift conversion and margins.
• Positive Sentiment: NBA 2K26 drove RCS — NBA 2K26 sold over 5 million units, grew DAU and MyCareer DAU ~30–40%, and helped lift recurrent consumer spending ~45%, aided by higher premium SKU mix and early‑access offers.
• Negative Sentiment: Borderlands 4 launch softness — Borderlands 4 received strong reviews and engagement but suffered PC optimization/performance issues that softened its launch and required post‑launch fixes, which may pressure near‑term results.
• Neutral Sentiment: GTA VI timing — Rockstar delayed Grand Theft Auto VI to November 19, 2026 to add polish; GTA V and GTA Online remain highly engaged (GTA V >220 million units, GTA Plus +20% YoY), but the delay shifts the blockbuster's revenue timing.

Presentation

[Operator]

Thank you for standing by. My name is Carly, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the second quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings call for Take-Two Interactive Software. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I will now like to turn the call over to Nicole Shevins, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Please go ahead.

[Nicole Shevins, SVP of Investor Relations at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining our conference call to discuss our results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 ended September 30, 2025. Today's call will be led by Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Karl Slatoff, our President, and Lainie Goldstein, our Chief Financial Officer. We will be available to answer your questions during the Q&A session following our prepared remarks. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that statements made during this call that are not historical facts are considered forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to us. We have no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Actual operating results may vary significantly from these forward-looking statements based on a variety of factors.

[Nicole Shevins, SVP of Investor Relations at Take-Two Interactive Software]

These important factors are described in our filings with the SEC, including the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q, including the risk summarized in the section entitled Risk Factors. I'd also like to note that, unless otherwise stated, all numbers we will be discussing today are GAAP, and all comparisons are year over year. Additional details regarding our actual results and outlook are contained in our press release, including the items that our management uses internally to adjust our GAAP financial results in order to evaluate our operating performance. Our press release also contains a reconciliation of any non-GAAP financial measure to the most comparable GAAP measure. In addition, we have posted to our website a slide deck that visually presents our results and financial outlook. Our press release and filings with the SEC may be obtained from our website at taketwogames.com.

[Nicole Shevins, SVP of Investor Relations at Take-Two Interactive Software]

I'll turn the call over to Strauss.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Thanks, Nicole. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today. We delivered fantastic second quarter results, including net bookings of $1.96 billion, which vastly exceeded our expectations and represent the best second quarter of net bookings in our company's history. We have many achievements during the period. 2K launched three major titles, including NBA 2K26, which set multiple records and has been delivering an unprecedented level of in-game spending. Our mobile business outperformed substantially, driven by our team's unparalleled innovation and live services. Grand Theft Auto Online continued to benefit from its highly engaged community. Due to these outstanding second quarter results and our optimism for the balance of the fiscal year, we're again raising our net bookings outlook for fiscal 2026 to $6.4-$6.5 billion.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Rockstar Games has announced that Grand Theft Auto VI will now be released on November 19, 2026, giving the team some additional time to finish the game with a high level of polish players expect and deserve. Rockstar has our full support, of course, and we're confident they'll deliver an unrivaled blockbuster entertainment experience. Turning to highlights from the period, our mobile business delivered another quarter of excellent results. Peak's forever franchise, Toon Blast, grew 26% year over year and approximately 90% over the past two years, driven by new gameplay elements and meta-game features such as card collection. Match Factory, another hit title from Peak, achieved record net bookings and grew 20% over last year. Players responded positively to innovative new features, including a Super Bowl power-up, which increased engagement and monetization within the game.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Rollic's hit title, Color Block Jam, continues to engage and grow its audience with new features and levels and remains the highest-grossing title in the studio's history. In addition, Rollic surpassed 3.8 billion lifetime downloads and achieved a new net bookings record for the quarter. The CSR franchise achieved $1 billion in lifetime in-game spending, with more than 180 million players worldwide since its launch in 2012, which we believe indicates great momentum ahead of the release of CSR 3. Zynga Poker launched on Steam with full cross-functionality, enabling players to enjoy the game freely across mobile, web browsers, and PC. 2K's mobile offerings had another strong quarter, with WWE Supercard surpassing 38 million lifetime downloads. NBA 2K Mobile continued to grow its audience.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

NBA 2K26 Arcade Edition holding its top five position on the Apple Arcade charts, and NBA 2K All-Star in China capturing 8 million registered users after just six months in market. We continue to focus on our mobile direct-to-consumer business and are achieving higher conversion driven by new offers, events, and enhanced personalization. Also, as a result of recent legislative changes, our teams have rolled out new technologies that enable direct transactions and new payment mechanisms, including solutions designed to support international growth, which should help us expand meaningfully net bookings and margins via this highly accretive channel. With the record-breaking launch of NBA 2K26, 2K and Visual Concepts proved once again their ability to create phenomenal gameplay, innovate with new features, and optimize live service offerings.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

To date, the title has sold in over 5 million units, representing a double-digit increase over NBA 2K25, and with average selling prices reaching an all-time high, led by higher sales on premium editions. We were pleased to see daily active users and MyCareer daily active users grow nearly 30% and nearly 40%, respectively, which contributed to recurrent consumer spending growth of 45%. Players love many of the game's new features, including a thriving hub of competition, a more accessible layout, all-new rewards, and fresh cosmetics. I'd like to congratulate 2K and Visual Concepts for once again delivering a superb basketball experience led by innovation and an unwavering commitment to excellence. 2K and Gearbox Software launched Borderlands 4, the latest offering in our beloved looter-shooter franchise. The game received high critical praise, with many reviewers calling it the best Borderlands yet.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

The series' highly active community eagerly welcomed the title, and during its opening weekend, it reached the largest concurrent player count on Steam in franchise history. Borderlands 4 also dominated YouTube with 300 million views and earned the number one spot on Twitch during its launch, underscoring the franchise's enduring mass appeal. While we experienced some challenges with optimization and performance on PC, Gearbox has been addressing these issues and releasing updates to improve gameplay. We're confident that Borderlands 4 will achieve strong unit sales over its lifetime. We're immensely proud of Gearbox and look forward to robust post-launch content offerings that will support the game in the months ahead. 2K and Hangar 13 released Mafia: The Old Country, the first new entry in our popular organized crime franchise in nearly a decade, which earned vast praise from critics and consumers alike.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

The title quickly surpassed our internal expectations and affirmed our belief that consumer demand remains strong for premium, narrative-driven experiences that over-index on value. The team at Hangar 13 will continue to push the boundaries for cinematic experiences in this series and in future creative pursuits. Grand Theft Auto V continues to grow its audience, and to date, the title has sold in more than 220 million units worldwide. Players remain deeply engaged with Grand Theft Auto Online, which added holiday-themed jobs and rewards, as well as new vehicles, community events, and outfits. GTA Plus continued to increase its membership, achieving over 20% growth year over year. We're pleased with consumers' ongoing passion and engagement with the franchise, which we believe will help usher in a record-breaking launch for Grand Theft Auto VI.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

In closing, we're very pleased with our position as one of the largest, most diversified companies within the interactive entertainment industry, a sector that we believe will enjoy robust growth. As we embrace our core values and focus on delivering the most captivating and engaging entertainment experiences, we expect to achieve record levels of net bookings in fiscal 2027, establish a new baseline for our business. We enhance our profitability. I'll now turn the call over to Karl.

[Karl Slatoff, President at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Thanks, Strauss. I'd like to thank our teams for delivering another terrific quarter, which reflects our unique ability to consistently deliver the highest quality entertainment experiences. Our teams plan to sustain this momentum over the balance of the year by releasing an array of new content and product offerings. Following the successful launches of Mafia: The Old Country, NBA 2K26, and Borderlands 4, 2K plans to release new content and updates for each game that will provide our fans with even greater opportunities to engage with these franchises. Zynga will continue to enhance its portfolio with the introduction of new features and innovation in live services, while also pursuing new titles. During the fourth quarter of our fiscal year, 2K and Visual Concepts will launch WWE 2K26, the next installment in our popular wrestling franchise.

[Karl Slatoff, President at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Since taking over the series, Visual Concepts has immersed players in the most intense and realistic action that the squared circle can hold. WWE 2K26 will continue this legacy. 2K will have more to share about the game shortly. Looking ahead, we believe strongly in our long-term pipeline, which includes the release of Grand Theft Auto VI on November 19, 2026, as well as the future launches of Judas, Project ETHOS, CSR 3, Top Golf, The Next BioShock, and many other exciting new titles from across our labels. In closing, we are thrilled with our performance for the first half of fiscal 2026. As we continue to execute our proven strategy and capitalize on emerging opportunities, we expect to achieve a period of meaningful long-term growth and shareholder returns. I'll now turn the call over to Lainie.

[Lainie Goldstein, CFO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Thanks, Karl, and good afternoon, everyone. Our second quarter results were truly fantastic. We are excited to raise our annual net bookings outlook for the second consecutive quarter. Our outperformance was driven by many of our key titles, which underscores the strength of our core franchises and the power of our diverse portfolio of owned intellectual property. I'd like to thank our teams for their outstanding execution and unwavering focus on creativity, innovation, and efficiency. Turning to our results, we delivered second quarter net bookings of $1.96 billion, which was significantly above our guidance range of $1.7-$1.75 billion. This reflected better-than-expected performance from NBA 2K, Mafia: The Old Country, and several mobile titles, including Toon Blast, Color Block Jam, Match Factory, and Empires & Puzzles, which more than offset softness in the initial launch of Borderlands 4.

[Lainie Goldstein, CFO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Recurrent consumer spending rose 20% for the period, which outperformed our guidance of 1% growth and accounted for 73% of net bookings. NBA 2K grew 45%, mobile increased mid-teens, and Grand Theft Auto Online declined as expected. During the quarter, we launched Mafia: The Old Country, NBA 2K26, and Borderlands 4. GAAP net revenue increased 31% to $1.77 billion, cost of revenue increased 27% to $793 million, and operating expenses increased 5% to $1.1 billion. On a management basis, operating expenses rose 13% year over year, which represented significant operating expense leverage on our strong top-line growth. Operating expense dollars were above our forecast due to incremental user acquisition investments to support robust performance in our mobile portfolio and higher performance-based compensation, which was partly offset by a shift in some console marketing and IT expenses into the second half of the year.

[Lainie Goldstein, CFO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Turning to our guidance, I'll begin with our full fiscal year expectations. Our momentum is strong, and we are raising our net bookings outlook range to $6.4 billion-$6.5 billion, which represents 14% growth over fiscal 2025 at the midpoint. The increase reflects our second quarter outperformance and higher expectations for many of our core franchises for the second half of the year. The largest contributors to net bookings are expected to be NBA 2K, the Grand Theft Auto series, Toon Blast, Match Factory, Borderlands 4, Color Block Jam, Empires & Puzzles, the Red Dead Redemption series, and Words With Friends. We now expect recurrent consumer spending to grow approximately 11%, representing 77% of net bookings. This growth percentage is more than double our prior forecast of 4%, driven by NBA 2K and higher expectations for several mobile titles.

[Lainie Goldstein, CFO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Our revised recurrent consumer spending forecast assumes that NBA 2K now grows in the mid-20% range, mobile now increases approximately 10%, and Grand Theft Auto Online declines, which is unchanged from our prior forecast. We project the net bookings breakdown from our labels to be roughly 46% Zynga, 39% 2K, and 15% Rockstar Games. We are raising our operating cash flow forecast to approximately $250 million, reflecting the strength in our business. We now expect to deploy approximately $180 million in capital expenditures, which is above our prior guidance due to the acquisition of an office building to support our global footprint. We are also increasing our forecast for GAAP net revenue, which is now expected to range from $6.38 billion-$6.48 billion, and cost of revenue, which is now expected to range from $2.66 billion-$2.69 billion.

[Lainie Goldstein, CFO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Our total operating expenses are expected to range from $3.98-$4 billion, compared to $7.45 billion last year. On a management basis, we now expect operating expense growth of approximately 9% year over year, which represents notable operating expense leverage on our higher net bookings outlook. Our forecast for operating expense dollars is increasing due to incremental marketing to support our mobile portfolio and higher performance-based compensation. Now moving on to our guidance for the fiscal third quarter, we project net bookings to range from $1.55-$1.6 billion, compared to $1.37 billion in the prior year. The largest contributors to net bookings are expected to be NBA 2K, the Grand Theft Auto series, Toon Blast, Match Factory, the Red Dead Redemption series, Color Block Jam, Empires & Puzzles, Borderlands 4, and Words With Friends.

[Lainie Goldstein, CFO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

We project recurrent consumer spending to increase by approximately 8%, which assumes low double-digit growth in mobile, a mid-single-digit increase for NBA 2K, and a decline for Grand Theft Auto Online. We expect GAAP net revenue to range from $1.57-$1.62 billion. Operating expenses are planned to range from $980-$990 million. On a management basis, operating expenses are expected to grow by approximately 12% year over year, which is primarily driven by incremental user acquisition investments to support our robust performance in our mobile portfolio and higher performance-based compensation. In closing, we are thrilled with the strength in our business today, and we are extremely optimistic about the future ahead.

[Lainie Goldstein, CFO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

As we execute on our strategic priorities, which include expanding our core franchises to even greater levels of commercial success, releasing groundbreaking new hits, driving efficiencies, and capitalizing on new business opportunities, we believe that we will meaningfully grow our scale and our profitability. I'd like to thank you all for your support and look forward to sharing more details on our exciting pipeline in the coming months. Thank you. I'll now turn the call back to Strauss.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Thanks, Lainie and Karl. On behalf of our entire management team, I'd like to thank our colleagues for continuing to deliver outstanding results for Take-Two. To our shareholders, I want to express our appreciation for your continued support. We'll now take your questions. Operator.

[Operator]

At this time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, press Star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from Colin Sebastian with Baird.

[Colin Sebastian, Senior Research Analyst at Baird]

Great. Thanks. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess, I mean, on the RCS performance, I mean, that's really, really strong. I'm curious if there are any common denominators across NBA mobile other titles where you're seeing that strength, anything specific you've learned from that that maybe you can apply to other franchises going forward. Considering the change in release date for GTA, just curious, does that change the cadence of content updates or marketing support for the existing franchise for GTA Online over the next year as you work to maintain engagement in the meantime? Thank you.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

On the second question first, I do not think you will see any change. Rockstar has a history of supporting GTA Online. Of course, the title continues to perform incredibly well. I also know that GTA Plus was up 20% year over year in the quarter, which is just great news. Grand Theft Auto V has now sold in 220 million units. It is a pretty great story. We expect that story to continue in a similar way. In terms of your first question, I think, are you asking whether we think there are sort of industry tailwinds that are driving recurrent consumer spending across the board?

[Colin Sebastian, Senior Research Analyst at Baird]

Actually, it could be that or more specific to the way that you're developing games. Is there something within RCS, within the mechanics that you're seeing is resonating with gamers in particular, or maybe they're just specific to those titles?

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

My sense is that despite what some industry observers are saying, that there are modest tailwinds in the business. I think we're seeing those. Equally, look, our approach here is to seek perfection in everything we do and to try to engage and captivate our consumers. When we do that effectively, monetization follows. None of us is in the business of taking victory laps, even though we're very proud of the quarter. I think the answer to your question is that our creative teams are delivering, and they're delivering at the highest possible level. When I see commentary in the industry that's negative about what's going on, I think if you try to correlate quality with performance, you're going to find it's an exceedingly positive correlation. Actually, I think you can find causation in there as well.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Give people something great, they're going to come out for it.

[Colin Sebastian, Senior Research Analyst at Baird]

All right. Thanks, Strauss.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Doug Creutz with TD Cowen.

[Doug Creutz, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at TD Cowen]

Thanks. It appears that you're soon going to be the last publicly traded standalone publisher of scale standing. I wondered your view on how that affects your ability to attract talent, your ability to place games in the market. Just sort of, is there anything about that strategically that affects your competitive position? Thank you.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

I think the answer is I'm not sure. We're always running scared around here. I'm fond of saying arrogance is the enemy of continued success. I do think we're in a terrific position. We're performing much better than expected economically, and that's because we're performing better than expected creatively. That's always our story around here. If we can maintain that, then we have a wonderful future ahead of us. It is true that at year-end, we're really very under-leveraged. It is true that in relatively short order, we expect to be a net cash company again. It's true that we're independent and we have a publicly traded security. I think all of those things can be advantages in the right hands. None of that will lead us to claim success before we deliver it.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Whenever we have good results, our approach around here is to take no victory lap, hence to get up the next day and try to do it again. That is what we will keep doing. We do think we are well positioned.

[Doug Creutz, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at TD Cowen]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Chris Schoell with UBS.

[Chris Schoell, Analyst at UBS]

Great. Thank you very much. You saw one of your peers see outperformance on mobile margins due to the recent iOS changes. Can you just walk us through how widely available alternate payment mechanisms are across your portfolio today? Did that provide any uplift to gross margins in the quarter or your expectations for the year? Maybe just along these lines, any thoughts on the recently proposed changes to Google Play and what it means for your business? Thank you.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Look, I've been saying for years that I expected the cost of third-party distribution to decline. As soon as we closed the Zynga transaction, we launched a direct-to-consumer initiative that has been successful. We value our partnerships with retailers. We do not have any reason to believe that those will ever become extinct. At the same time, distribution costs naturally will decline with competition and in certain instances with litigation and legislation. You are seeing that now. Our direct-to-consumer business is doing really well. It has been rolled out almost across our entire mobile portfolio, not the entire portfolio, because it does not necessarily fit everywhere. The most recent litigation result definitely puts us in a stronger position. Not only will net bookings rise more rapidly than expected, but margins too will rise with them. It is all good news.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

We're not specifically calling out how that margin change will affect our year, except obviously we've increased our guidance for the year.

[Chris Schoell, Analyst at UBS]

Got it. Thank you. If I can just fit in one more, maybe just on the new GTA timeline, anything you can share as to what the drivers were and what gives you confidence that the date will stick? Thank you.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Yeah. The drivers are desire to deliver as perfect an entertainment experience as we possibly can and to try to live up to consumers' extraordinary expectations and then exceed those expectations. It is always painful when we move a date. We have done so occasionally in the past, and we have never regretted it in retrospect. I would like to point out that we have some competitors that in the event where more polish was required and it required slipping a date, they chose not to slip the date, and they did so at their peril.

[Chris Schoell, Analyst at UBS]

Makes sense. Thanks, Strauss.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Andrew Marok with Raymond James.

[Andrew Marok, Analyst at Raymond James]

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe one on NBA and one on Borderlands. As it relates to NBA, we saw some of the metrics that you disclosed today were well above what you would normally consider for kind of a mature sports franchise. I guess, where are you getting these incremental audiences from? Are there new cohorts of players that you're expanding into? I guess, what inning would you say that you're in in terms of accessing the total NBA audience? I'll follow up with the Borderlands question.

[Karl Slatoff, President at Take-Two Interactive Software]

In terms of the cohorts that we're seeing, obviously, returning players are a huge cohort for us. I would say every year we're getting a little bit better at bringing people back into the games. There is still a lot of opportunities to improve on that. You asked about what inning we are. We are certainly not getting 100% of our people back every single year. If we were to be able to do that, we would have substantial, substantial upside. I'm not saying that we will be able to do that, but there is certainly a lot of room for improvement there. In terms of other players, we're having some success internationally as well, but also getting more engagement of the player base that we have.

[Karl Slatoff, President at Take-Two Interactive Software]

That's been a significant part of our ability to drive recurring consumer spending in NBA, which has had significant improvements year over year. We're doing more interesting things like bringing people in earlier for early access with pre-auth premiums and just making the game tighter and listening to our audience base. Like we always say, the higher the engagement, the more engagement, the monetization follows. It's not the other way around. That's been our mantra pretty much from day one. I'd love to say we're in the first inning. That's probably not true, but we're certainly not even to the seventh inning stretch at this point. It's probably somewhere in between.

[Andrew Marok, Analyst at Raymond James]

Got it. Thank you. Really appreciate that. Then on Borderlands, in these kind of longer-lived titles, how important is the launch period? I guess to the extent that the PC issues caused a little bit of a drag, how does player behavior change in one of those titles versus maybe an annual release where maybe you do not have as much time to sort of make up anything that fell short of expectations around the launch period? Thank you.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

We see it. I mean, your question implies that we see this the same way. The release was a bit softer than we would have liked for the reasons that you said. Gearbox has been addressing the PC challenges. I think in retrospect, we feel that there are things that we could have done better that we intend to do better in the future. In the fullness of time, we think the unit sales on this title will be very solid, and the economic results will be in line with our expectations.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Matthew Cost with Morgan Stanley.

[Matthew Cost, Analyst at Morgan Stanley]

Hi, everybody. Thanks for taking the questions. I wanted to ask a little bit about mobile and Zynga. Obviously, it's been a stretch here of really strong outperformance for that business versus the broader mobile gaming market. Two-parter. One, what is your level of confidence in their ability to sustain that continued outperformance through the market versus the market? Do you see that as a function of new game launches, growing existing titles? Connected to that, is there an opportunity to do M&A in the mobile gaming space, something that as an independent company, Zynga has had a lot of success with? Is that something you're considering doing more of to build on the momentum Zynga has today? Thank you.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Yeah. I mean, what do I attribute their outperformance to? Great leadership, great execution. So Frank Gibeau is the CEO of Zynga. He's doing a terrific job leading the team. And our creative teams. Peak, Rollic. All of our studios, frankly, right now are doing a wonderful job, both running live services on existing titles and launching new titles. We just have to keep doing more of that. What gives me confidence that we can? I think our approach has been narrowed and honed down. At the label where we're being very careful economically. We're pursuing far fewer titles at once. We're willing to walk away from titles that do not work earlier and focus on our winners. I also think our creative teams have really hit their stride. That said, we take none of this for granted.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

We know that looking backward is not going to help us except to learn from our errors and to a lesser extent our successes. We have to look forward, and we have some great releases coming up. We are focused on those. We have Top Golf coming from Nordeus and other titles coming about, which I am very optimistic. The fact that I am optimistic is irrelevant. What is relevant is what the consumer says. On the M&A side, we are very selective here. We are very proud of the fact that I do not think we have had an acquisition in our history that did not work out. That is an enviable and unusual track record for any corporation, any public company. We would like that to continue. How do we do that? Make sure something is strategically aligned, of course, and do not step outside of that zone.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Make sure that the cultures fit or can fit so that the integrations make sense. Make sure that the deal is immediately accretive. If not to GAAP earnings, at least to management and cash flow. That has been our rubric and seems to have worked. I guess what that implies is discipline and selectivity, which has served us well. The good news is we have a really strong balance sheet, and we have been able to do acquisitions in the relatively recent past. It was not that long ago that we bought Gearbox.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Eric Handler with Roth Capital Partners.

[Eric Handler, Managing Director of Media and Entertainment Analyst at Roth Capital Partners]

Good afternoon. Thanks for the question. Strauss, you've been very vocal on AI and how it's not a positive for creative development for video games. I'm curious if you're having any success implementing AI in other sort of non-creative parts of the video game development, be it QC, be it artwork, or whatever, and how you're adding it to what your development.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Yeah. To be clear, I did not say that I did not see it as a positive. What I said was that AI is based on backward-looking data sets, meaning compute, meaning LLMs. None of that replaces forward-looking genius. That is not an opinion. That is factual. I defy anyone to controvert those facts. Of course, technology drives a lot of what we do around here. Creativity is the lifeblood of the organization. How do we express our creativity? We do so with computers, with technical tools. We always have. As toolsets improve, we can become more efficient. We can become more effective. Our creative people, therefore, are freed up to be more creative. AI, depending on how you define it and properly deployed, of course, is positive for creativity. Therefore, it is, of course, positive for hit creation.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

To your question about what's the nature of the rollout, we have seen some efficiencies. I think there are plenty of areas of business where the tools that we have rolled out at the enterprise are helping us. We are not either using this as an excuse or, frankly, seeing the opportunity to reduce headcount. We are seeing this as an opportunity to take our very talented people and release them from more mundane tasks so they can do more creative and more interesting tasks, and we can work better as an organization. If you said, "Can you cut your cost profile by 5% tomorrow by using all things AI?" the answer is no.

[Eric Handler, Managing Director of Media and Entertainment Analyst at Roth Capital Partners]

Thanks.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Ed Alter with Jefferies.

[Ed Alter, Senior Associate in Equity Research at Jefferies]

Hi everyone. Thanks for the question. Appreciate the mention of the pipeline and specifically BioShock. You guys made a pretty key hire there with Rod Ferguson during the quarter. We'd love to just get an update on that title and kind of what his mandate is at the studio.

[Karl Slatoff, President at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Sure. Yeah. We're very excited that we brought Rod onto lead Cloud Chamber. He is the new head of the BioShock franchise. He's obviously an incredible industry veteran. He's got history with the BioShock franchise, specifically with Infinite. He's also been involved with Gears of War and Diablo. We're just so grateful that he's come to work with us at Cloud Chamber. BioShock is a very important franchise for us. It's one of our biggest franchises. We're very excited about the release of the next BioShock. We've made some changes in the organization. We're shifting some things around. Right now, we feel that the game is on a great track for us to deliver something that's going to exceed consumers' expectations. Not much more to update other than that.

[Karl Slatoff, President at Take-Two Interactive Software]

The fact that the next BioShock is going to take the franchise to the next level, which is always our ambition with all of our franchises.

[Ed Alter, Senior Associate in Equity Research at Jefferies]

Thanks. On ad revenue, it has been up two quarters now for the first time in quite a while. Can you talk about what is going right there? Is that Color Block Jam, or is there a broader ROLIC portfolio just performing across the board?

[Lainie Goldstein, CFO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Really across the entire mobile business, particularly Rollic, though. They've achieved fantastic performance. This is what's driving the higher ad revenue for the quarter.

[Ed Alter, Senior Associate in Equity Research at Jefferies]

Great. Thanks.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Mikel Hickey with Benchmark.

[Mike Hickey, Senior Analyst of Equity Research at Benchmark]

Yeah. Hey, Strauss, Karl, Lainie, Nicole, congrats guys on the quarter and raising your numbers for the year. Obviously, sorry to hear the delay of GTA 6, but November next year, Strauss, is going to be pretty awesome. Just curious, I guess, internally how the Rockstar team is holding up with the delays. I'm guessing it could be challenges on motivation or culture. I don't know, but I'm guessing it's hard on them to have to deal with the delay as well. I'm sure they're very excited to get the game out. In terms of polish, I mean, I think I know what that means, but just sort of curious what Rockstar defines as polish. How much of, they have a huge team now, so how much of the team, Strauss, as much as you can tell us, is focused on polish versus maybe other.

[Mike Hickey, Senior Analyst of Equity Research at Benchmark]

Content ideas or projects that could be part of that GTA ecosystem or otherwise? Thanks, guys.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Yeah. Obviously, Mike, you know us well, you know me well. I can't talk about how the inner workings of the studio are reflected in current activities. So I can't and I wouldn't answer that question. On the first point, I think the culture at Rockstar is extraordinary. And we're all pushing hard to seek perfection. And that's not just words. I mean, the Metacritic scores of Rockstar releases are generally speaking, not generally speaking, I mean, with very few exceptions, have been over 95. And GTA 5, as you know, has been the standard bearer not just for our company, but for the industry through three console generations. And to this day is still, I would argue, the most technologically advanced title in the marketplace, despite the fact that it's more than a decade old. And that doesn't happen by accident. So Rockstar's culture is one of performance.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Take-Two's culture as a whole, which is reflected in all of our labels, is one of seeking excellence, teamwork, and kindness. That is a recipe that works really, really well. I cannot deny that at any given time, if things do not go exactly as you would like, there is some disappointment. We are pretty good about brushing ourselves off and picking ourselves up and playing another day. We have always done that. We learn from things that do not go as well as we would like, and we aim to exceed all expectations, our own and those of our consumers. We, frankly, rarely fall short, but we do not let that divert us either because we just try harder. I think that defines what Rockstar is doing now and how they are feeling now.

[Mike Hickey, Senior Analyst of Equity Research at Benchmark]

Thanks, Strauss.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Martin Yang with Oppenheimer.

[Martin Yang, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Oppenheimer]

Hi. Thank you for taking my question. Can you talk about the premium SKU mix in NBA this year? How much is it higher than previous years? Can you also talk about the impact of having more season passes embedded in the premium SKU, whether or not that's a material uplift to your RCS growth for 2K26? Thank you.

[Karl Slatoff, President at Take-Two Interactive Software]

One of the drivers, and generally speaking, the higher the mix of the premium SKUs, obviously the average selling price is higher. That is certainly the case this time around. We have seen some really great reactions to our premium SKUs. We believe, at least partly, if not in large part, it was the effect of offering seven days of early access to our players, which is longer than we did last time. There is some RCS embedded in that as part of that package. It would have a really significant impact. I think that has overall helped our average selling price. It was certainly a successful strategy that we undertook this year.

[Martin Yang, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Oppenheimer]

Good talk.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from Alec Brondolo with Wells Fargo.

[Alec Brondolo, Analyst at Wells Fargo]

Hey, thank you so much for the question. I appreciate it. I actually want to go back to the first question that was asked and maybe actually ask about macro in the mobile game or in the game category in general. I think people consider this a mature category, maybe low single-digit grower, but suddenly TQRCS is up 20%. We have mobile game ad networks growing well in excess of 20%. Roblox seems to be growing bookings 50% or 60%. From your guys' perspective, is it possible or are you maybe starting to feel like we're entering a more positive cycle for industry growth? To the extent that's true, perhaps you might opine on what the consumer behavior behind that is. Thank you.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

I do sense there a tailwind, as much as I would love to take credit for everything good that's going on and disclaim responsibility for anything bad going on. No, I sort of agree with you. I think it feels like there's. The consumers are once again moving in our direction, sort of how it felt at the beginning of the pandemic, maybe not quite as much enthusiasm. We are unaccustomed to the world feeling this way because, of course, there was a decline in mid-2022 and took a while to settle out, and then there was a return to modest growth. As you yourself said, these are pockets of growth. These pockets are defined by quality. We have to still be an outlier to deliver results like these. That is our goal.

[Alec Brondolo, Analyst at Wells Fargo]

Thank you so much.

[Operator]

Your final question comes from Clay Griffin with MoffettNathanson.

[Clay Griffin, Research Analyst at MoffettNathanson]

Thanks. Good evening. I just want to circle back on mobile. Strauss, you hit all of the points in terms of the margin improvement in the near term, but also over the course of the last several fiscal years. It looks like, rough math, that the mobile business in general will be pretty close to where it was, call on a pro forma basis, call it in 2022. I just would love to ask you if maybe you could just level set in terms of all of the, whether it's the discipline in the titles, whether it's the efficiency in the UA spend, whatever. It does seem like there's been a pretty notable expansion in margins from then to now, notwithstanding the opportunities that you called out. Wondering if you could maybe just give us a framework in terms of the overall improvement, maybe, in mobile margins from.

[Clay Griffin, Research Analyst at MoffettNathanson]

Call it two, three years ago to now.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

Look, honestly, we're just executing better. There were things that we were doing upon the acquisition that we've either stopped doing or we're doing a whole lot more efficiently and effectively. One of the reasons that transaction came about is that we had like-minded cultures. I think we aligned on the culture I described earlier, and we aligned on our pillars of creativity, innovation, and efficiency. We have an extraordinary leadership team that is open-minded and wants to win. We have amazing creative people throughout the organization who are bound and determined to do the very best work anyone can in the space. I think that's what it comes down to. All of that done right is reflected in things like net bookings and margins. If you think about all these calls we've been doing for all this time.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

We talk about the numbers quite correctly, I think, as a result of what we do, not a driver of what we do. None of us wakes up in the morning and says, "Let's talk about where our stock price ought to go." We talk about where our company ought to go. If we get that right, the stock price is going to do just fine, I think. Nicole, our head of IR, is sitting with me that in the 18 years that this management team has been responsible for overseeing Take-Two, our stock has appreciated something close to 5,000%. That is a result of our strategy. That is not our strategy. What we aim to do around here is make the best entertainment on earth and bring it to everyone on earth, wherever they want it, whenever they want it, however they want it.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

If we do that right, if we keep doing that right, and if we're willing to question ourselves and always try harder and try again when we fall short, probably ought to see continued performance.

[Clay Griffin, Research Analyst at MoffettNathanson]

Thanks.

[Operator]

There are no further questions at this time. I'll now turn the call back over to Strauss for any closing remarks.

[Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO at Take-Two Interactive Software]

I'd just like to take a moment once again to express my gratitude for the nearly 13,000 people who devoted their careers to Take-Two and all of our affiliates all over the world because they're the ones who delivered these amazing results. I want to thank the team at Rockstar who's diligently working on delivering the best entertainment experience of all time. I want to thank our shareholders for all of their support. Thank you for attending the call today. We really appreciate it.

[Operator]

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Lainie Goldstein, CFO
• Strauss Zelnick, Chairman and CEO
• Nicole Shevins, SVP of Investor Relations
• Karl Slatoff, President

Analysts

• Doug Creutz, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at TD Cowen
• Clay Griffin, Research Analyst at MoffettNathanson
• Colin Sebastian, Senior Research Analyst at Baird
• Chris Schoell, Analyst at UBS
• Matthew Cost, Analyst at Morgan Stanley
• Alec Brondolo, Analyst at Wells Fargo
• Martin Yang, Senior Equity Research Analyst at Oppenheimer
• Eric Handler, Managing Director of Media and Entertainment Analyst at Roth Capital Partners
• Ed Alter, Senior Associate in Equity Research at Jefferies
• Mike Hickey, Senior Analyst of Equity Research at Benchmark
• Andrew Marok, Analyst at Raymond James