Take-Two quarterly revenue drops 37%, still 'better than expected'

Publisher Take-Two Interactive reported "better-than-expected" results for the first quarter of its 2014 fiscal year today, and although the company lost money in the quarter, it expects very positive results for the second quarter and full year.

Take-Two's revenues for the quarter ending June 30, 2013, totaled $142.7 million, a 36.9 percent year-over-year decline that was expected because last year, the first quarter of the company's 2013 fiscal year contained two major releases in Max Payne 3 and Spec Ops: The Line.

The company recorded a first-quarter 2014 net loss of $61.9 million, an improvement on the $110.8 million loss it reported one year ago. That net loss included a $29.6 million "impairment of capitalized software development cost" related to an in-development 2K title.

Take-Two's net revenue for the first quarter was buoyed by Borderlands 2, NBA 2K13, Grand Theft Auto 4 and BioShock Infinite — both the games themselves as well as digital content for them. Non-GAAP revenue from digital content grew by 128 percent year over year.

The publisher pointed out that its upcoming slate will provide a major boost to its bottom line, starting with the second fiscal quarter and continuing through the full fiscal year, which ends March 30, 2014.

"With Grand Theft Auto 5 launching on Sept. 17, followed by the releases of NBA 2K14 and WWE 2K14, fiscal 2014 is poised to be one of our best years ever," said Strauss Zelnick, CEO and chairman of Take-Two (pictured above), in an investor release today. "Looking ahead, we are well-positioned to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the upcoming launches of the next-generation consoles."

Zelnick and other Take-Two officials will provide more details on the company's first-quarter results in an investor call this afternoon.