GTA V ships 52m copies worldwide

Take-Two has announced fourth quarter and full-year results for its most recently concluded fiscal year, revealing Grand Theft Auto V has shipped 52m units globally.

Along with GTA V, the firm’s Q4 2015 benefited from Grand Theft Auto Online, Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, Evolve and NBA 2K15. In a subsequent earnings call, the company revealed Evolve has sold-in 2.5m copies, WWE 2K15 has sold-in approximately 3m, the NBA 2K franchise has reached 7m sold-in, and Borderlands as a franchise has eclipsed 25m units sold-in.

Non-GAAP net revenue from digitally-delivered content for the three month stretch saw an year-over-year increase of 66 per cent to $202.5m, while revenue from "recurrent consumer spending" – such as DLC and virtual currency – also grew 47 per cent and accounted for 54 per cent of digital sales.

Full year revenue was down significantly compared to fiscal 2014, but that has everything to do with how well Grand Theft Auto V moved for consoles during that stretch as opposed to any slacking off during the past 12 months.

"Our strong fourth quarter revenues and better-than-expected Non-GAAP profits marked an outstanding close to one of our company’s best years ever," Take-Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick said.

"During fiscal 2015, we seamlessly launched five triple-A titles for the holiday season led by Grand Theft Auto V and NBA 2K15; added an exciting new franchise with the successful release of Evolve; and achieved record digitally-delivered revenue, including our highest-ever revenues from recurrent consumer spending. Our business generated significant cash flow and, as a result, we ended the fiscal year with $1.1 billion in cash and short-term investments.”

Zelnick also touched on the company’s outlook for its current fiscal year.

"Fiscal 2016 is off to a great start, highlighted by the April launch of Grand Theft Auto V for the PC, which has exceeded our expectations. Throughout the coming year, we will continue to execute our proven strategy of launching a select array of the highest-quality titles, led by new annual releases of NBA 2K and WWE 2K; Battleborn, a groundbreaking new intellectual property from Gearbox Software; and a soon-to-be announced new triple-A title from 2K.

We also will continue to deliver innovative offerings designed to promote ongoing engagement with our games and drive recurrent consumer spending. Beyond fiscal 2016, we have a robust development pipeline and our Company is well-positioned to deliver growth and margin expansion over the long-term."

Take-Two provided initial guidance of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion in non-GAAP net revenue for its fiscal 2016 period.