Take-Two not expecting profitability for fiscal '09

Take-Two held a conference call, following the disappointing news of BioShock 2's delay, to update investors on its current financial situation. With BioShock's absence, Take-Two's holiday sales will rely on Borderlands, Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony and the PSP version of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. While all are arguably high-profile titles, none are expected to generate the kind of revenue as a brand new BioShock title -- and that's going to hurt Take-Two's bottom line.

Like many other publishers suffering from the economic depression, Take-Two has confirmed the company will not be able to achieve profitability for the fiscal 09 year. While specific figures were not released during the call, the company once again reiterated that its outlook for fiscal '10 is far more positive, expecting profit "without a new multiplatform Grand Theft Auto release."

Touting a lineup that includes Max Payne 3, BioShock 2 and a number of "unannounced titles" for release in late 2010, analyst Jesse Divnich of EEDAR agrees. "The news of BioShock 2 being delayed into fiscal 2010 has drastically changed my view on the Take-Two. I originally anticipated that Take-Two would outperform the industry in fiscal 2010. Now, I expect them to dominate fiscal 2010."