Take-Two Q1 FY2027 earnings: EPS beats, revenue light, GTA VI pre-orders called "unprecedented"
Take-Two topped adjusted EPS estimates but revenue ran slightly light; it held full-year guidance steady as GTA VI, due Nov. 19, drew what its CEO called "unprecedented" pre-order demand.
| Q1 2027 | Reported | Expected | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | $0.36 | $0.34 | +7.1% |
| Revenue | $1.39B | $1.44B | -3.8% |
Key takeaways
- Adjusted profit per share came in slightly ahead of what analysts expected, while revenue landed a bit below forecasts — a mixed quarter that investors mostly shrugged off given the bigger story: what’s coming later this year.
- Net bookings (a gaming-industry measure of total sales activity, including digital purchases not yet counted as revenue under accounting rules) came in at $1.39 billion, above the top end of the company’s own guidance range, helped by strong ongoing player engagement in NBA 2K26 and continued strength in the Grand Theft Auto series.
- CEO Strauss Zelnick told analysts that pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI, due November 19, are at levels “no one’s ever seen before at Take-Two or in the industry,” calling demand “unprecedented” and “astonishing” — but the company stopped short of raising its full-year forecast on the strength of pre-orders alone.
- “Recurrent consumer spending” — ongoing purchases like in-game currency and add-on content in already-released games, as opposed to one-time sales of new titles — made up 84% of bookings and fell only 1% year-over-year, a smaller decline than the company had internally projected.
- The company’s very thin (or negative) operating and net profit margins over the past year mostly reflect heavy spending on marketing and development for unreleased games ahead of GTA VI’s launch, rather than a weakening of its core business — high gross margin shows the games themselves remain profitable to sell once made.
- Results included a $43.4 million charge after Take-Two decided to stop development on an unannounced title, a one-time cost that weighed on profitability this quarter.
- Take-Two reiterated its full-year outlook of $8.0–$8.2 billion in net bookings for fiscal 2027, implying roughly 20% growth, and guided next quarter’s net bookings to $1.62–$1.67 billion as GTA VI marketing ramps up.
- The company also announced an extended preview of GTA VI will premiere on Netflix on August 27, ahead of its release on YouTube and other platforms, part of a broader marketing push before launch.
Q1 2027 in context
| Metric | Jun 2026 | Jun 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.5B | $1.5B | +2.0% |
| Net income | -$34M | -$12M | -186.6% |
| Free cash flow | -$194M | -$70M | -177.7% |
| Diluted EPS | -$0.18 | -$0.07 | -157.1% |
| Gross margin | 57.5% | 62.8% | -5.3 pts |
| Operating margin | -2.3% | 1.4% | -3.8 pts |
| Net margin | -2.2% | -0.8% | -1.4 pts |
Figures for the quarter ended Jun 2026 and the quarter ended Jun 2025, as reported to the SEC.
How the stock took it
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc closed at $232.47 on Aug 6, 2026, the last session before the report, and at $253.57 on Aug 10, 2026, the first session after it — +9.1% across the report.
| Earlier report | Close before | Close after | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 4, 2026 | $212.17 | $193.24 | -8.9% |
| Nov 7, 2025 | $252.40 | $234.06 | -7.3% |
Closes from the market's daily record. Each figure spans the report date — from the last session that closed before it to the first that closed after — because a company may report before the open or after the close.
Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 57.2% | Trailing 12 months |
| Operating margin | -1.6% | Trailing 12 months |
| Net profit margin | -4.5% | Trailing 12 months |
| Pretax margin | -3.0% | Trailing 12 months |
| EPS | -$1.61 | Trailing 12 months |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 18.2% | Trailing 12 months |
| Return on equity | -8.6% | Trailing 12 months |
Sources: company report · earnings call · StockTitan