Take-Two reports loss in Q1; L.A. Noire ships 4 million, RDR ships 10 million

Take Two Interactive has reported a loss in Q1 of financial year 2012. They have also confirmed that Team Bondi developed L.A. Noire has now shipped 4 million units while last year Red Dead Redemption has shipped 10 million units. The latter has now shipped 11 million units in total since its May 2010 release, and the Undead Nightmare pack has shipped 2 million units.

Their net revenue for Q1 was $334.4 million, as opposed to $375.4 million in Q1 of FY2011. This means their revenue has seen a 12% drop. GAAP loss was at $8.6 million compared to $27.4 million in GAAP income.

L.A. Noire was one of the most successful games out of all Take Two releases in this period, shipping 4 million units since its May release. No numbers were released for Duke Nukem Forever though. However, Take-Two believes Duke Nukem is “projected to be profitable”, despite the negative press and reception. Duke Nukem Forever is being held mainly responsible for the loss.

“During the first quarter, we delivered revenue and Non-GAAP profits that were in line with our expectations,” said Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

“Our results benefited from the launch of Rockstar’s groundbreaking and critically acclaimed title – L.A. Noire, the release of Duke Nukem Forever, continued strong sales of NBA 2K11 and Red Dead Redemption, and growth in digitally delivered content.

“Given our solid performance year-to-date and robust pipeline of upcoming new releases, we are well positioned to be profitable on a Non-GAAP basis in fiscal year 2012.”

Following the earnings release, Take-Two’s shares have fallen 5%.

“We’re focused on building new franchises, diversifying our approach. For example, you can look at what Red Dead Redemption did for us in our last fiscal year,” Zelnick said, noting that the firm’s DLC based revenue has seen a 49% year-on-year increase to $24.6 million, thanks to DLC packs for Red Dead Redemption, Civilization, Borderlands, GTA, L.A. Noire and other titles.

Zelnick, while talking about upcoming releases, also talked about an unannounced title, which we presume must be Grand Theft Auto V.

It was also announced that NBA 2K11 sold 5.5 million units in this quarter.