Take-Two Says ‘Max Payne 3’ Delay May Cause Full-Year Loss
January 17, 2012, 4:59 PM ESTBy Heather Perlberg
(Updates with closing share price in last paragraph.)
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., producer of the “Grand Theft Auto” games, will postpone the introduction of “Max Payne 3” by two months, which may result in a loss for fiscal 2012, the company said in a filing.
Take-Two, based in New York, said it expects to begin selling the game in May instead of March. The change may reduce fiscal 2012 revenue by $210 million to $230 million and net income by 60 cents to 70 cents a share, according to the filing. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey had projected $1 billion in sales and profit of 10 cents a share.
“With ‘Max Payne 3’ now slated for May, our robust lineup of upcoming releases for fiscal 2013 is even stronger,” Chief Executive Officer Strauss Zelnick said in the filing. “Fiscal 2013 is poised to be one of our best years ever.” He projected profit of more than $2 a share for the period, which starts in April.
Investors are more focused on Take-Two’s pipeline for 2013 than any impact the game’s later introduction may have on 2012, said Atul Bagga, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, who has a “neutral” rating on the shares.
“A delay of ‘Max Payne 3,’ it’s not that big a surprise,” Bagga said in a telephone interview. “It’s mostly a shift and not really a big negative for Take-Two.”
The company said it expects to update its outlook when it reports third-quarter earnings on Feb. 2.
Take-Two rose 2.2 percent to $14.82 at the close in New York. The shares gained 10 percent last year.
--Editors: Niamh Ring, John Lear
To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Perlberg in New York at hperlberg@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net
