Take-Two Q2 News_ $10 Million Loss, Beaterator Hype, More

In an earnings call today, Take Two executives worked revenue drops, the word “Beaterator,” a denial of a digital distribution sea-change and praise for Rockstar into one conversation. This is how they did it: Highlights from Take Two’s second quarter earnings call follow, minus the big BioShock and GTA stuff, since we covered that already…(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c&cid=872d12ce-453b-4870-845f-955919887e1b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c" }).render("79703296e5134c75a2db6e1b64762017"); }); https://kotaku.com/bioshock-2-dated-coming-first-to-europe-5270710 *Take-Two lost $10.1 million in the quarter ending April 30, 2009, with revenue [[link]] dropping more than half compared to the same period [[link]] last year, down to $229.7 million, largely due to Grand Theft Auto IV boosting numbers last Q2 of 2008 and this corresponding quarter’s big games, like [[link]] Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, not doing the same. More numbers in the company’s official Q2 earnings release. *Take Two confirmed the fall release of Rockstar’s long-in-development Beaterator (covered here in early 2007), describing it as a “powerful and intuitive music mixer,” that will support downloadable music. The software had originally been pitched to media as a PSP title that was being created in conjunction with Timbaland. Neither Sony’s handheld platform nor the renowned producer were mentioned in today’s announcements, with the Beaterator’s platform listed as “TBA.” http://kotaku.com/244134/rockstar-and-timbaland-bring-psp-beaterator *Take Two won’t say how well Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned sold, with an executive noting that “we’re not disclosing those numbers and it is not our typical practice that we would.” *The company denied the demise of brick-and-mortar retail for the gaming industry, which some gaming pundits have been predicting. Said a Take Two senior exec: “Retail is the primary channel for the foreseeable future.” *Asked about the recently announced deal that allows the top team at Rockstar to create games that they own, a Take Two executive declined to provide much of a progress report beyond noting that: “All of us will be blown away and consumers will be delighted by these upcoming releases.” https://kotaku.com/take-two-secures-rockstar-talent-through-2012-5112689 That’s it for this quarter. I promise in three months’ time to learn the difference between chairman Strauss Zelnick’s voice, CEO Ben Feder’s and any others so I can specify which top guy said which on the call.