Take Two's 2005-06 outlook @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on September 07, 2005

News: A rough financial quarter and a look ahead from Take Two.

Take Two revealed their financial results for the fiscal quarter that ended July 31 today. On the heels of the "Hot Coffee" debacle and the subequent pulling of GTA San Andreas from most store shelves, Take Two ended up losing $28.8 million. Quite a large chunk of change, but less than the $40 million many analysts predicted.

The Mature rated rendition of San Andreas, popularly known as the "Decaf Coffee" version, is scheduled to ship for the Xbox and PC by the end of the month. Meanwhile, the PS2 version will be released sometime in October.

Along with the financial data, Take Two has revealed their outlook for 2005 and early 2006 and it includes a lot of surprises and some release date shifting. For example, Civilization IV for the PC has been pushed up to the fall from it's original late 2005 release date. On the other hand, Bully for the PS2 and Xbox has been pushed back to spring 2006.

As for the surprises, Take Two has a brand new franchise planned for the Xbox 360 in spring 2006. Summer 2006 will also see the release of a "sequel to a Rockstar brand". Your guess is as good as mine. Two new PSP titles will also dot the release schedule sometime in 2006.

However the real surprise is Take Two's plan to release "extensions of the Grand Theft Auto franchise". They didn't feel the need to elaborate further. These "extensions" are currently scheduled for a to be announced 2006 release date.

All of the rest of Take Two's 2005 releases are on track. Major fall releases include The Warriors (Xbox/PS2), Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PSP) and Serious Sam II (Xbox/PC). And rounding out the year, major late 2005 releases include 24 The Game (PS2), The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC/Xbox 360) and Amped 3 (Xbox 360).

We'll keep you posted on the rest of Take Two's year as we learn it.