Take-Two strikes out with MLB games

Take-Two has released "preliminary" earnings results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year (ending October 31, 2009), blaming a $.09 a share slump on poor sales of its Major League Baseball games. It seems the publisher might have been misled by the commonly held misconception that baseball is the "national pastime" -- modern warfare has clearly seized that honor. Take-Two didn't specify which MLB titles might have underperformed, but it released The BIGS 2, MLB Front Office Manager, MLB 2K9, and MLB 2K9 Fantasy All-Stars all in 2009, and all to mediocre critical reception.

2K expects to take a $30–35 million loss on its MLB business and further adjusted its financial outlook downward following the BioShock 2 delay. While Borderlands and NBA 2K10 helped generate some revenue last quarter, Take-Two's future doesn't look to be paved in gold. "Looking ahead, we remain committed to our goal of operating profitably on a non-GAAP basis;" CEO Strauss Zelnick said. "However, we do not currently expect to achieve that goal in fiscal 2010. We have an outstanding product portfolio, exceptional creative talent and a solid balance sheet, and are confident that these strengths will provide a sound foundation for improved performance."

Reader Comments (32)

It's probably because their baseball games just aren't as good as Sony's MLB The Show series and don't have the appeal of the Slugfest series.

No, its probably because consumers are tired of playing THE SAME GAME YEAR AFTER YEAR!!

That goes for the whole genre of sports games pretty much

Right, i was about to ask how The Show does each year. Wasn't 2k9 a travesty? Didn't they even admit it?

Man, I love competition and choice.

Doesn't seem like the Madden/FIFA fans are tired of buying the same game year after year..

People like what they like. :)

I'm pretty sure The Show 2009 actually got rated pretty high. They made some pretty big improvements.

GTFO Bradwart

Has there even been a Slugfest made in years? That was the only baseball game I liked and even then just for running up as the pitcher and beating people with the ball.

There hasn't been a Slugfest game in years, it got superceded by The Bigs.

And there's enough glitches in MLB 2k9 (A-Rod falling into invisible quicksand behind homeplate, home run bunts without throwing errors, etc) that I'm shocked they still have the license.

They should make one game every 3 years, and update anything through DLC. It will be cheaper in the end, and they can focus on making every iteration actually mean something. Too often the sports game developers take away features from the game, and then put it back 2 iterations later to make it seem like they are adding to the series.

I like Take 2. Hope that they make the series good again, like the original Bigs was.

All it takes is one good game. Quit with all the stupid games and make one good game. Then milk that mother fucker until there is nothing left but a shell of a game. Then take that shell and sell it on craigslist for mass profit.

Another thing that might interest some: Evan Longoria was just announced to be going to be on the cover of MLB 2k10

It probably doesn't help that they released four different games, holy shit.

And not one of them was any good, sadly.

every since mlb2k07, it's been all downhill..

Can't have been as bad as World Series Baseball 2K1...could it have?

MLB The Show was much better....they should learn from Sony and INNOVATE

this is probably the only time im going to say this but 2k PLEASE GIVE BACK BASEBALL TO EA

This.

I totally agree. MVP Baseball 2005 was the shit.

So, in return EA shares the NFL license with them,
so they can make the better-than-madden-NFL-2k series again...

...
sad

Dont worry take two! I'll buy your game!

MLB 2k10 to be exact.

Seriously JC what is up with all the JPG artifacting in your images? : \

I wish High Heat was still around; man I loved HH2004 on the Xbox.

That's unfortunate because The BIGs was actually pretty fun. It has just enough to differentiate itself from Slugfest while still keeping that quick arcadey feel. I had relatives in town over Thanksgivng that had never played it before and they ended up loving it. I can honestly say I've put more time in with this series over any other baseball title.

Whoever green-lighted MLB Front Orifice Manager was either stupid or high (or both) to think a super-niche game even stood a chance in the modern console market, especially at the price they were asking. Would have been a decent $10/$15 XBLA or PSN title at best.

It also doesn't help that their traditional MLB series has floundered in recent years. If it was only half as good as The Show, they'd really be onto something. But alas.,

It's also worth noting that The BIGs came out late into the baseball season, when most people's attention has turned to other sports. Just sayin'.

All I know is MLB 2K has been the only non-arcade baseball game for Xbox in the last three years. I purchased each one and hated them all.

2K9 hit the apex of suckitude. Spotty outfielding was the prime frustration for me. Come March, I'm getting a PS3 specifically for MLB:The Show.

Made the jump last year for that very reason. You won't be disapointed.

Does GTA go into this? How well did Episodes from Liberty City do, anyway?

Sales are bad because MLB 2K9 was utter trash. As was 2K6, 2K7, and 2K8. They're making horrible games and selling them for $60. It's an insult.

I know, I know. 2K9 had its issues, but DLC should of taken care of most of it. As far as 2K10 goes, watch the fuck out, this game is the shit. 100 millionX better than last year. All faces are exact replicas of their real life counter parts. Gameplay is 100% smoother. Hearing the bat shatter is amazing (sounds stupid, but wait till you see, or hear). If you don't have HD ( and i know a lot of you poor fuckers don't) you have no business owning a next gen system. You're gonna wanna check this one out.

Take-Two strikes out with MLB games

Reader Comments (32)

Posted: Dec 3rd 2009 5:42PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Dec 3rd 2009 5:44PM sammuniz7 said

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Posted: Dec 3rd 2009 7:31PM Crusty Magic said

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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 11:13AM RodrigoCard said

Posted: Dec 3rd 2009 6:46PM J43 said

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Posted: Dec 4th 2009 10:47AM friarcanuck said

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