Take-Two posts stellar numbers powered by GTA4, BioShock

 As expected, stellar sales for Take-Two Interactive‘s Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) have powered the company’s financial status into the green zone. Serious numbers have been shown in a conference call held by the publisher and BioShock chipped in of good figures. Numbers galore in the full article up ahead.

It’s not rocket science to figure out that Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) would sell big, but to put things into context, Take-Two announced some serious figures for it. As it turns out, the sandbox masterpiece has almost single-handedly pulled the publisher out of the financial red zone it found itself in this time last year.

In the Take-Two Q2 report covering the period up to April 30, 2008, the company’s net profits were chalked in at US$ 98.2 million. This prompted Take-Two to raise its revenue forecast for 2008’s Q3 to US$ 325-375 million.

The publisher further reported that it shipped a total of 11 million copies of GTA4 worldwide, with 8.5 million of them already sold. Episodic content for the Xbox 360 version is expected to fatten up the franchise even more, but has been delayed to Q1 2009 due to portfolio balancing reasons.

BioShock (Xbox 360, PC), released last year, has also had success and has hit the 2.2 million sales mark. A PlayStation 3 version is in the works, and so is a sequel. A movie tie-in for the game, however, is still far into the horizon according to Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick.

Not all cylinders are firing for the publisher as it withdrew its original forecast that its 2K Sports brand would start profiting this fiscal year. The company blames it on a lower attach rate this generation, but remained adamant that it will not sell the division unless it comes with Take-Two Interactive as a whole.

Speaking of acquisition, the Take-Two stance towards the EA bid has remained unchanged. The company  has stated that it’s been talking to other interested parties for possible deals but has stressed that everything’s still up for grabs.

Via Take-Two