NBA 2K and Grand Theft Auto franchises boost Take-Two Q3 net revenue by 25% to $1.7bn

Take-Two Interactive has published its financial results for its third fiscal quarter, recording increases of 25% and 28% in net revenue and bookings respectively.

This revenue growth was driven by its NBA 2K and Grand Theft Auto franchises, as well as significant gains in its mobile division.

As a result, the publisher has raised its full year outlook for net bookings. It is now forecasting an outlook range of between $6.65 billion to $6.7 billion to reflect “Q3 outperformance and higher expectations for several of key titles in Q4.”

Here’s what you need to know:

The numbers

• Net revenue: $1.7 billion (up 25% year-on-year)
• Net loss: $92.9 million (compared to $125.2 million loss in the year-ago quarter)
• Total net bookings: $1.76 billion (up 28% year-on-year)

The highlights

During its third quarter, Take-Two reported significant growth in its NBA 2K and Grand Theft Auto franchises, as well as its mobile division headed by Zynga.

NBA 2K26 has sold approximately eight million units to date, with recurrent consumer spending, daily active users, and MyCareer daily active users all growing 30% year-on-year.

The sports title is “on track to generate the highest level of annual net bookings and recurrent consumer spending in the franchise’s history,” the publisher said.

Looking at the GTA franchise, it “vastly outpaced” Take-Two’s forecasts, recording recurrent consumer spending growth of 27% led by GTA Online’s most recent update.

Overall, full-game sales of GTA 5 have reached over 225 million units since its 2013 launch, while membership levels of GTA+ have nearly doubled compared to the same period last year.

As for mobile, Peak’s Toon Blast rose 43% year-over-year, surpassing $3 billion in lifetime net bookings. Match Factory, also developed by Peak, grew approximately 17% YoY.

Mobile advertising revenue also rose by 10% compared to the same period last year, “driven by higher average revenue per daily active user.”

“Our outstanding third quarter results reflect outperformance from all of our labels, and we are once again raising our net bookings outlook for fiscal 2026,” said Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.

“With ongoing momentum across many of our businesses, and the highly anticipated launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 on November 19, 2026, we continue to project record levels of net bookings in fiscal 2027, which we believe will establish a new financial baseline for our business, set us on a path to enhanced profitability, and provide further balance sheet strength and flexibility.”

Looking ahead, Take-Two has raised its net bookings outlook to between $6.65 billion to $6.7 billion (it was previously between $6.4 billion and $6.5 billion), reflecting the “outperformance of Q3 and higher expectations for several key titles in Q4.”

Ahead of Take-Two’s financial results, GamesIndustry.biz spoke to Zelnick about the upcoming release of GTA 6, embracing AI, and the ongoing dispute between the IWGB union and Rockstar following layoffs last October.

“We take our labor relations really seriously and we have extraordinary faith in our colleagues and our team overall,” said Zelnick.

“With regards to that specific matter, the tribunal rejected the union’s application for interim relief, we think that was the right decision. We regret that we had to dismiss [staff], we stand by what we did and that was supported in the outcome of the hearing.”