GTA publisher Take-Two anticipates that its results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 will be below its forecast “due to several factors” with the largest being the performance of its Major League Baseball titles.
Chairman Strauss Zelnick explained, “Our anticipated results for the balance of fiscal 2009 primarily reflect the challenges related to our Major League Baseball business, inventory write downs in our distribution business, and retail conditions that have proven to be more difficult than the assumptions built into our prior outlook. These factors were partially offset by the performance of our catalog business and a number of our holiday titles, as shown by the successful launch of Borderlands and the leading ratings and market share of NBA 2K10.
“Looking ahead, we remain committed to our goal of operating profitably on a non-GAAP basis; however, we do not currently expect to achieve that goal in fiscal 2010. We have an outstanding product portfolio, exceptional creative talent and a solid balance sheet, and are confident that these strengths will provide a sound foundation for improved performance."
Ben Feder, CEO, added, "We continue to pursue a strategy of building a select, diverse portfolio of top quality titles and to invest our resources in the most promising products and most compelling market opportunities. The industry is a hits-driven business, and our creative and financial resources are dedicated to making great games. Our focus going forward will be on executing better on this strategy in order to drive improved results. Toward that end, we are continuing to work on maximizing the efficiency of our development process and exploring additional ways to reduce costs throughout our organization while maintaining the investment required for future growth."