2017 Annual Report
Total Page:16
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Generated significant cash flow and ended the fiscal year with in cashcash andand short-termshort term investmentsinvestments Delivered record digitally-delivered net revenue of Generated highest revenues ever from recurrent consumer spending – 32% year-over-year increase of digitally-delivered net revenue and Series with at least one five-million unit selling release and 55 individual multi-million unit selling titles of total net revenue One of the most critically-acclaimed and commercially successful video games of all time with over units sold-in to date Sold-in nearly 8 million units to date and remains the top-selling and top-rated NBA simulation EmployeesEmEmployyees wworking orkinng in ng game amme development and 16 studios around the world TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. 2017 ANNUAL REPORT DEAR SHAREHOLDERS, Fiscal 2017 marked another outstanding year for Take-Two. We delivered $1.8 billion in net revenue and $1.8 billion in Bookings, which grew 26% and 19%, respectively, and expanded our profit margins. Our strong business performance converted into substantial cash provided by operating activities, which grew 27% to $331 million. As of March 31, 2017, we had $1.4 billion in cash and short-term investments. Today, Take-Two is a global leader in the interactive entertainment business, with some of the industry’s most commercially successful and critically acclaimed series that engage and excite audiences around the world across all relevant platforms. OUR KEY ACHIEVEMENTS Q We delivered record digitally-delivered net revenue and Bookings, including our highest-ever from recurrent consumer spending. Digitally-delivered net revenue grew 32% to $922 million and digitally- delivered Bookings grew 25% to $987 million. Recurrent consumer spending accounted for 26% of total net revenue and 32% of total Bookings. Q We expanded our relationship with the NBA through the creation of the NBA 2K eSports League. Set to debut in 2018, this groundbreaking competitive gaming league is jointly owned by Take-Two and the NBA, and will consist of professional teams operated by actual NBA franchises. Q We acquired privately-held Social Point for $250 million in cash and shares of Take-Two common stock. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, Social Point is a highly-successful free-to- play mobile game developer that focuses on delivering high-quality, deeply-engaging entertainment experiences. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to net income per share, excluding transaction costs and amortization of intangible assets, in fiscal year 2018. Q Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online have exceeded our expectations in every quarter since their release, and continue to expand their audience nearly four years after their initial launch. Grand Theft Auto V has sold-in more than 80 million units and remains our industry’s standard-bearer for creative excellence, and the highest-rated game of the current console generation. The title continues to attract and delight new audiences, especially as the installed base of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One expands further. Moreover, Grand Theft Auto Online has grown every year since its release and reached record levels in fiscal 2017 – driven by Rockstar Games’ ongoing release of free content. Q We released NBA 2K17, which remains the highest-rated sports game of the current console generation, and is poised to become our highest-selling sports title ever with sell-in to date of nearly 8 million units. Engagement with and recurrent consumer spending on our industry-leading basketball series continues to grow, with over 2 billion games of NBA 2K17 played on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, up 16% over NBA 2K16. More than 1.3 billion of these games were multiplayer – a 40% increase. In addition, the average time that consumers spent playing multiplayer games increased by nearly 30%. This remarkably strong engagement helped to drive record Bookings from recurrent consumer spending on NBA 2KK, which grew 71% during fiscal 2017. Q We launched WWE 2K17, which has sold-in approximately 3 million units to date. The success of the title has been enhanced by its downloadable add-on content, including a Season Pass. We believe there remains a substantial long-term growth opportunity for the WWE 2K series by further leveraging the development and marketing talent of 2K and Visual Concepts, which are responsible for the tremendous success of NBA 2K. 1 TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. 2017 ANNUAL REPORT Q We released Mafia III, which has sold-in more than 5 million units and was praised by the media and consumers alike for setting new creative benchmarks through its deep storytelling, diverse characters and authentic period setting. The title is being supported with downloadable add-on content, including a Season Pass that delivers three narrative-focused experiences. Q We launched Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, which received stellar reviews and is the fastest-selling title in the history of the series, with sell-in to date of nearly 2 million units. The title is being supported with a robust array of post-launch content. This beloved series has captivated audiences for more than 25 years and has sold-in more than 40 million units worldwide. 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 digitally-delivered offerings that drive ongoing engagement with, and recurrent consumer spending on, our titles is one of our most important long-term growth and margin expansion opportunities and, therefore, is a key strategic priority of our organization. Recurrent consumer spending also helps to strengthen our results between front-line releases, while prolonging consumers’ engagement with our franchises. We now support virtually all of our new releases with innovative offerings designed to achieve this objective. World-class creative teams: Creativity and innovation are among the core tenets of our organization, and are integral drivers of our continued success. We have over 2,500 employees working in game development in 16 studios around the world – including some of the most talented visionaries in the business. The creative teams at Rockstar Games and 2K are renowned for their consistent ability to deliver games that set new benchmarks for excellence. In addition, the acquisition of Social Point enhances our organization by adding one of the few creative teams in the world with a track record of producing multiple hits in the free-to-play mobile sector. Whether expanding proven franchises, launching new intellectual property or providing innovative ways to keep consumers engaged, we have an unwavering commitment to producing the highest quality entertainment experiences that captivate and delight audiences. Diverse portfolio of industry-leading intellectual property: Take-Two is a financially strong, global interactive entertainment enterprise with numerous successful franchises across a variety of genres. Our diverse portfolio of intellectual property includes 11 series with at least one five-million unit selling release, and 55 individual, multi-million unit selling titles. Since 2007, we have added 9 new brands to our lineup, including such massive hits as BioShock, Borderlands and Red Dead Redemption. Capitalizing on growth of digital distribution: During fiscal 2017, we continued to capitalize on our industry’s ongoing transition towards digital distribution, and delivered both record digitally-delivered net revenue and Bookings, including our highest-ever from recurrent consumer spending. In addition to virtual currency for Grand Theft Auto Online and NBA 2K, recurrent consumer spending was enhanced by a variety of offerings, including free-to-play games led by WWE SuperCard, which has now been downloaded more than 14 million times and is our highest-grossing free-to-play mobile offering, and NBA 2K Online, which remains the #1 PC online sports game in China with approximately 35 million registered users; and downloadable add-on content led by WWE 2K, Sid Meier’s Civilization and XCOM 2. Our results also benefited from ongoing growth in full-game downloads, with more than 25% of units for current-generation consoles and over 90% of units for PC delivered digitally. In addition, more than half of our catalog sales for old-generation consoles are being delivered through digital download. Digital distribution is disproportionately benefiting our catalog, as it gives consumers the opportunity to buy older titles that no longer receive physical shelf space. We expect the trend towards digital distribution to continue, with growth in both recurrent consumer spending and full-game downloads over the long-term. 2 TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. 2017 ANNUAL REPORT Actively investing in emerging opportunities: The interactive entertainment industry is today’s most dynamic segment in all of entertainment. We are actively investing in a variety of emerging platforms, business models and markets that we believe have the potential to further diversify our business, expand our audience and enhance our financial performance. Q Our acquisition of Social Point expanded our presence in the free-to-play mobile market, which is the largest and fastest-growing segment of interactive entertainment. We believe that Social Point is a perfect complement to our core gaming business because it produces high-quality entertainment that can attract and retain a loyal, highly-engaged player base and deliver sustainable results. Social Point focuses on “mid-core” games that feature greater gameplay depth than casual games, and their titles typically monetize and retain players at higher rates than its competitors in this segment. We expect the acquisition of Social Point to be a significant contributor to recurrent consumer spending in fiscal 2018, and a meaningful growth opportunity over the long-term. Q The growing popularity of eSports is unquestionably an exciting trend in our industry.