2019 Annual Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. 2019 ANNUAL REPORT ANNUAL INC. 2019 SOFTWARE, INTERACTIVE TAKE-TWO TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. 2019 ANNUAL REPORT Generated significant cash flow and ended the fiscal year with $1.57$1.57 BILLIONBILLION in cash and short-term investments Delivered total Net Bookings of Net Bookings from recurrent $2.93$2.93 BILLIONBILLION consumer spending grew 47% year-over-year increase 20%20% to a new record and accounted for units sold-in 39% 2424 MILLIONMILLIONto date 39% of total Net Bookings Tied with Grand Theft Auto V as the highest-rated game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with 97 Metacritic score One of the most critically-acclaimed and commercially successful video games of all time with nearly units sold-in 110110 MILLIONMILLIONto date Digitally-delivered Net Bookings grew Employees working in game development and 19 studios 33%33% 3,4003,400 around the world and accounted for Sold-in over 9 million units and expect lifetime Net Bookings 62%62% to be the highest ever for a 2K sports title of total Net Bookings TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. 2019 ANNUAL REPORT DEAR SHAREHOLDERS, Fiscal 2019 was a stellar year for Take-Two, highlighted by record Net Bookings, which exceeded our outlook at the start of the year, driven by the record-breaking launch of Red Dead Redemption 2, the outstanding performance of NBA 2K, and better-than- expected results from Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V. Net revenue grew 49% to $2.7 billion, Net Bookings grew 47% to $2.9 billion, and we generated significant earnings growth. We deployed $362.4 million to repurchase 3.72 million shares of our common stock and, as of March 31, 2019, we had over $1.57 billion in cash and short-term investments. Today, our enterprise is a global leader in the interactive entertainment industry and a significantly higher-margin business than at any time in our history. OUR KEY ACHIEVEMENTS n We delivered record digitally-delivered net revenue and Net Bookings. Digitally-delivered net revenue grew 49% to $1.68 billion and digitally-delivered Net Bookings grew 33% to $1.80 billion. n We generated record net revenue and Net Bookings from recurrent consumer spending. Recurrent consumer spending accounted for 40% of total net revenue and 39% of total Net Bookings. n We released Red Dead Redemption 2 to mass critical and commercial success. A testament to Rockstar Games’ unparalleled ability to create the highest-quality entertainment experiences, Red Dead Redemption 2 received near-perfect critical reviews and multiple game of the year awards. The title remains tied with Grand Theft Auto V as the highest-rated game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with a 97 Metacritic score. According to The NPD Group, based on combined physical and digital sales in the U.S., Red Dead Redemption 2 was the best-selling game of 2018. To date, Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold-in more than 24 million units worldwide. In support of the title, Rockstar Games launched Red Dead Online – a new multiplayer experience within Red Dead Redemption 2’s enormous and vibrant open world. The title exited the Beta period on May 14, 2019, including a major content drop. We believe Red Dead Online is poised for success and Rockstar Games will release many more updates in the future. n Nearly six years after their launch, Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online continued to be significant contributors to our results. Grand Theft Auto V has sold-in almost 110 million units, cementing further its standing as the “must-have” title of the current console generation. Rockstar Games’ flagship titles continue to drive exceptional engagement and results.Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2, including their online games, had almost 90 million unique player accounts in fiscal 2019 alone. Life to date, more than 200 million unique player accounts have registered in Rockstar Games’ Social Club platform as having played these games. Rockstar Games will continue to support both immersive online worlds with innovative content to keep players engaged and drive growth over time. 1 TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. 2019 ANNUAL REPORT n We released NBA 2K19, which is on pace to generate the highest Net Bookings ever for a 2K sports title. Our industry-leading basketball series continues to expand its audience and underscores that NBA 2K remains the perennial favorite among both basketball and pop-culture fans. To date, NBA 2K19 has sold-in more than 9 million units. During fiscal 2019,recurrent consumer spending on NBA 2K grew 45% to a new record and became the single-largest contributor to that part of our business. Over the past year, we have seen a substantial increase in engagement with NBA 2K, including average games played for NBA 2K19 outperforming its predecessor by over 20%. n We announced, together with The National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), a significant, multiyear global partnership extension. The agreement expands upon the success of the NBA 2K series that has sold-in over 90 million units worldwide. n We successfully launched WWE 2K19, which has been enhanced by an array of downloadable add- on content, including a Season Pass. The WWE brand continues to expand worldwide, and we believe there remains a substantial long-term opportunity to grow our WWE 2K series by leveraging further the development expertise of 2K and Visual Concepts. n We bolstered our sports portfolio with the releases of NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 and The Golf Club 2019 Featuring PGA TOUR. We will continue to explore opportunities to complement our offerings in this category. n We announced that video game industry veteran Michael Condrey joined 2K as President of the label’s new game development studio based in Silicon Valley. Condrey is best known for co-founding Sledgehammer Games and leading development for the renowned Call of Duty franchise, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Condrey also served as Chief Operating Officer and Director at Visceral Games, which established the popular Dead Space franchise. In his new role with 2K, Condrey will build and lead a new development team to work on an unannounced project. n Social Point remained a meaningful contributor to our results through its two biggest mobile titles, Dragon City and Monster Legends. During fiscal 2019, our Barcelona-based studio launched Tasty Town, a new game within the popular restaurant category. Social Point is working hard on its exciting development pipeline, including more than 10 new games, and is focused on driving growth and expanding its audience. n During fiscal 2019,we repurchased 3.72 million shares of Take-Two common stock for $362.4 million. SUCCESSFUL GROWTH STRATEGY Take-Two’s strategy is to develop the highest-quality, most compelling interactive entertainment franchises in the business, and deliver them on every platform around the world that is relevant to our audience. Complementing our core business with offerings that drive ongoing engagement with and recurrent consumer spending (including virtual currency, in-game purchases and add-on content) on our titles after their initial purchase is an important, high-margin growth opportunity and, therefore, a key strategic priority of our organization. We now support virtually all of our new releases with innovative offerings designed to achieve this objective. Recurrent consumer spending also helps to strengthen our results between front-line releases while providing long-term value to our consumers and extends the lives of our products. 2 TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. 2019 ANNUAL REPORT World-class creative teams: Creativity and innovation remain the core tenets of our organization, and are the lifeblood for our ongoing success. We have over 3,400 employees working in game development in 19 studios around the world, including some of the most talented visionaries in the business. We provide them with the resources and time that they need to create groundbreaking entertainment experiences. We support and encourage our creative teams to pursue their passions, which we believe results in them delivering the best products. Whether expanding beloved franchises, launching new intellectual property or providing innovative ways for audiences to remain captivated and engaged, we have an unwavering commitment to producing the highest-quality entertainment experiences. Diverse portfolio of industry-leading intellectual property: Take-Two is a financially strong, global interactive entertainment enterprise with numerous successful franchises encompassing a variety of genres. Our diverse portfolio of intellectual property includes 11 series with at least one five-million unit selling release, and more than 60 individual, multi-million unit selling titles. Capitalizing on growth of digital distribution: During fiscal 2019, we continued to capitalize on our industry’s ongoing transition towards digital distribution, and delivered both record digitally-delivered net revenue and Net Bookings, including our highest-ever from recurrent consumer spending. In addition to virtual currency for NBA 2K, Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Redemption, recurrent consumer spending was enhanced by a variety of offerings. These included free-to-play games led by Social Point’s mobile titles, WWE SuperCard, which grew over 13% year-over-year net of platform fees and has now been downloaded more than 19 million times, and NBA 2K Online in China, which grew 74% driven by the launch of NBA 2K Online 2 and remains the #1 online PC sports game in China with 45 million registered users. In addition, add- on content was a meaningful contributor to recurrent consumer spending, led by offerings for Sid Meier’s Civilization, XCOM 2 and WWE 2K 19. Our results also benefited from ongoing growth in full-game downloads, with more than 38% of units for current-generation consoles and over 95% of units for PC delivered digitally.