LOOKS
GTA V is still a revenue monster with 115 million copies sold
Years after release, GTA V and its online mode are still making serious cash for Take-Two Interactive.
Today Take-Two Interactive announced its Fiscal Q2'20 earnings, and once again GTA V continued to outperform expectations. Rockstar's mega-hit has now sold more than 115 million units worldwide (which is larger than the PS4's entire installed base) and continues generating consistent microtransaction revenues for the company.
We didn't get exact figures on GTA Online's revenues, but total recurrent consumer spending (microtransactions, DLC, season passes, etc) in Q2'20 made up 37% of total GAAP net revenues of $857.8 million, which means Take-Two pulled in $318.38 million from recurrent consumer spending. In order, the biggest contributors to this value were Borderlands 3, NBA 2K20 and NBA 2K19, and GTA Online and GTA V, meaning Rockstar's colossus made less than the newer sports and shooter-looter titles insofar as microtransactions.
To date, GTA Online has made more than $1 billion in microtransaction revenues.
"Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online once again exceeded our expectations, delivering the best quarter yet in respect to daily, weekly, and monthly active users, and our best summer ever in terms of online users and new users overall," Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said in the call.
"Recurrent consumer spending on GTA Online grew 23% YoY to a new record, driven by the July release of the Diamond Casino Resort update. This update was GTA Online's biggest content launch ever, delivering record daily, weekly, and monthly active users in July and again in August."
As a result of GTA V's strong performance and other titles like Borderlands 3, Take-Two has made the following adjustments to its FY2020 forecast:
- Net bookings have been raised from $2.6 bn - $2.7 bn to $2.75 bn - $2.85 bn
- Net bookings expected to be 60% 2K, 30% Rockstar games, and 10% Private Division, Social Point, and other.
- Recurrent consumer spending forecast to be up by 25%, driven primarily by GTA Online
- Expects console games to be 50% digital, up from 38% from last year
- Digital net bookings to grow 30%, due to recurrent consumer spending and higher GTA V/Borderlands 3 digital mix
"The largest contributor to net bookings are expected to be NBA 2K, GTA Online and GTA V, Borderlands 3, RDR2 and RD Online, The Outer Worlds, Sid Meier's Civlization 6, and the WWE2K series," Take-Two CFO Lainie Goldstein said during the call.
"We now expect Grand Theft Auto Online to grow in Fiscal 2020 as a result of better than expected performance fiscal year to date and improved outlook balance for the year."
Take-Two says Rockstar will provide lots of new content to GTA Online and Red Dead Online in the years to come, indicating there's no end in sight for the game.
Grand Theft Auto V - PlayStation 4 Today Yesterday 7 days ago 30 days ago $27.48 $27.49 $27.94
* Prices last scanned on 11/7/2019 at 7:20 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, please click for very latest pricing
Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games and 2K Games, makes a lot of money through microtransactions. For the latest quarter, the company pulled in more than $300 million from what it calls "recurrent consumer spending." Take-Two intends to have microtransactions in every game it makes, and now the company's chief executive has shared more details on its strategy for approaching the controversial business practice.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said the company doesn't design games with a microtransaction-first mentality. Instead, Zelnick said Take-Two thinks about how to "entertain and engage" players before asking them to spend extra money.
"We only think about monetization after we've already focused on that engagement," he said. "Our approach is that we don’t believe in having toll booths. We want to create a great experience you can enjoy without regard to whether you spend or not."
Zelnick went on to say that Take-Two understands that players want to be treated fairly when it comes to microtransactions. He acknowledged that Take-Two has stumbled in the past when it comes to this, though he said other companies are more highly criticized.
"We know that, anecdotally, consumers don't just want to be entertained, they want a fair deal," he said. "We don't always get it right but I think compared to the marketplace we tend to get it right more than others. Occasionally we get criticized, but if we are we take a look at the in-game economy and make adjustments."
Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto Online, the multiplayer mode for GTA V, has been a runaway success when it comes to microtransaction revenue. Despite being more than six years sold, Take-Two expects GTA Online revenue to continue to grow in the current fiscal year.
Take-Two has said it wants to have some form of a microtransaction in every game that it makes, whether that be through in-game purchases, subscriptions, add-ons, or some other means of extra sale on top of the purchase price. Take-Two also owns the Barcelona-based mobile game developer Social Point, which makes free-to-play games that are supported by microtransactions.
Take-Two is not the only company to use microtransactions. All of the major publishers--Activision, EA, Ubisoft, and others--implement microtransactions in their games. For comparison, Activision Blizzard just announced that its own microtransaction revenue reached $700 million for the latest quarter.
For more on Take-Two's earnings report, check out these stories:
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