Take-Two secures Rockstar talent, swings to profit
Houser brothers locked in for future titles as profits hit $54 million, Zelnick Media to lead company until 2015
Red Dead Redemption publisher Take-Two has swung to a profit of $53.8 million for the financial year ended March 31, compared to a loss of $108.1 million for the same period last year.
Sales were up 49 per cent to $1.14 billion, and the company announced that it has secured key Rockstar Games and Zelnick Media talent going forward.
Sam Houser, Dan Houser and Leslie Benzies have renewed their long-term employment agreements with Take-Two "on similar economic terms", locking in the creators of Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto for future titles.
Zelnick Media - owned by chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick - will continue to provide management and financial services to Take-Two for the next four years until May 2015.
"We generated revenue growth and margin expansion that consistently exceeded expectations, and also took action to position the Company for even greater success over the long-term," commented Zelnick.
"Recent achievements include extending the employment agreements with Rockstar's key creative talent, renewing our multi-year partnership with the NBA, and entering into two new partnerships to develop online games for Asian markets.
"These initiatives and others will enable us to continue to execute our core strategy of developing groundbreaking triple-A titles for traditional platforms, while at the same time prudently investing in triple-A entertainment experiences for emerging gaming platforms, both domestically and abroad."
According to the company, Red Dead Redemption has now sold over 8.5 million units worldwide. It would not discuss early figures for the recently released L.A. Noire but noted the game has sold "exceedingly well".