'Max Payne 3' and 'Spec Ops: The Line' sales lowlights of $110 million loss for Take-Two

Take-Two Interactive announces first quarter loss of $110 million, citing lower sales of Max Payne 3 and Spec Ops: The Line.

Take-Two Interactive announced a first quarter loss of $110.8 million on revenue of $226.1 million today, citing lower-than-anticipated sales of 2K Games' Spec Ops: The Line and Rockstar Games' Max Payne 3.

"Not every title will meet our sales targets," said Take-Two Interactive chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick during an investor call following the "disappointing results."

The publisher listed Max Payne 3 and Spec Ops: The Line among the "strongest contributors" to its net revenue, which also included continuing sales of Red Dead Redemption, NBA 2K12 and the Grand Theft Auto series. Revenue from digital content sales were up 33% year-over-year and accounted for 14% of net revenue, Take-Two said, driven by the Civilization franchise, the Grand Theft Auto franchise, the Max Payne franchise, NBA 2K12 and Red Dead Redemption.

"Although our first quarter results were below expectations due to lower-than-anticipated sales of Spec Ops: The Line and Max Payne 3, the outlook for our slate of upcoming releases is stronger than ever," said Zelnick. "Early consumer enthusiasm suggests robust demand for our extraordinary lineup of upcoming releases, particularly Borderlands 2, NBA 2K13 and BioShock Infinite. We continue to expect fiscal 2013 to be one of the best years in Take-Two's history."

Take-Two did not provide any updates in terms of platforms or release date for the next Rockstar Games title, Grand Theft Auto V, but did say the game "is in full development and making substantial progress."