Would the video game be an exception once again? At a time when multinationals such as micro-businesses are laying off and reducing their activity, the entertainment industry is also recording results that hardly correlate to initial forecasts. But unlike many sectors, containment seems more than ever to have done the business of the bigwigs of the sector.
His small business does not know the crisis: the Take-Two Interactive glove has just ended the first quarter of fiscal year 2020-21 on the hats of wheels, thanks to its carrier licenses packed with micro-transactions.
According to the report destined for the markets and the interview published by Games Industry, this first quarter set a new historic record for the publisher, with a whopping $ 831 million in turnover (around 705 million euros) for $ 90.4 million in net income (around 76.7 million euros).
One of the drivers of this success is called NBA 2K20: with 14 million copies cast, the series recorded a 126% increase in expenses. in-game in the first quarter of this fiscal year, and Take-Two believes this episode could become the top-grossing 2K line-up.
Grand Theft Auto is obviously not far away, since the expenses recorded through GTA Online have jumped 155%, while Red Dead Redemption II sold as well between April 1 and June 30, 2020 as on the same dates there. year pass, to reach the score of 32 million copies cumulatively. Grand Theft Auto V reaches colossal 135 million score without tiring
The CEO of the editor Strauss Zelnick welcomes the rather spectacular increases in expenditure generated by the purchase of demoralized games, not without recalling the exceptional nature of the situation for the moment:
This quarter is a bit biased, since our catalog is very focused on digital distribution, which represents 92% of our revenues. That’s a pretty high figure, and I don’t think there is a minimum share for physical games: it all depends on consumer behavior. Today, traditional distribution remains an important part of our industry, and we see retailers as real partners. But it is only a matter of time before the industry goes fully digital.
Despite these statements that we imagine underweighted by the company’s communicators, Take-Two expects to record 87% of its revenues via digital this year, and already estimates that its share in this generation which is coming to an end. should represent 68% of sales. A page turns.
With such results, the company has obviously raised its forecast for the second quarter, and is now targeting sales of $ 800 million for a net profit of $ 110 million. (against respectively 750 million and 98 million dollars).
