Game publishing powerhouse Take-Two Interactive Software announced record net sales and cash flow for the second quarter of its fiscal year 2001, which ended on April 30. Net sales for the quarter were US$93.3 million, a $23.3 million increase year-over-year. Net income was $3.9 million, up a bit from the same period last year. To date, Take-Two has raked in more than $224 million in sales for the year, almost $32 million more than the company took in for the first six months of fiscal year 2000.
Take-Two Interactive Software is the parent company of Gathering of Developers, which up until two weeks ago was a major purveyor of Macintosh-compatible A-list games. The Gathering had published Mac-compatible action game titles like Oni, Rune, Heavy Metal FAKK 2, and 4×4 Evo. Two weeks ago Take-Two and Infogrames announced a far-reaching publishing deal that will bring what looks like all of Gathering’s future Mac-compatible releases to Infogrames subsidiary MacSoft, instead.
Take-Two president Paul Eibeler says that this quarter’s returns are only the beginning. “We have begun to see an acceleration in our business, as evidenced by our top line growth, and we anticipate the strongest publishing schedule in our company’s history to lead us to record profitability levels this Christmas,” said Eibeler.
The company notes that it “expects to benefit” from software sales related to the newest game console platforms out now and hitting the shelves in the next few months. PlayStation 2 games and titles for Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance handheld system are both expected to positively impact Take-Two’s 2001 earnings, while GameCube and Microsoft’s Xbox, two consoles that won’t be out until closer to the end of the year, will impact Take-Two’s 2002 finances.