Mobile accounted for $680 million of Take-Two Interactive’s revenue in the first quarter of the 2023-2024 fiscal year, representing 53% of the total of $1.284 billion, according to the company’s latest financial report.
This represents a significant increase from the same period last year, which saw mobile generate $396.6 million – 34% of the total ($1.002 billion). While the console market dominated revenue in Q1 2022-2023 accounting for 55% of the total ($607.2 million), it accounted for just 39% of the total in Q1 2024 ($504.3 million).
Mobile also accounted for the majority of the company’s net bookings at $689.6 million – 53% of the total. This represents a significant increase from $369.6 million in the same period last year (34%), and once again sees mobile supplant console as the dominant platform in Take-Two’s portfolio as console bookings fell from $503.8 million (55%) to $419.2 million (35%).
“We made excellent progress on our profitability initiatives in mobile,” said CEO Strauss Zelnick. “We expanded our offerings on our direct-to-consumer platforms and continue to believe that, over the next few years, the majority of our mobile games will leverage our highly-profitable, proprietary distribution channel.”
Acquisitions are key
We’d be remiss to discuss the success of mobile without acknowledging Take-Two’s acquisition of mobile giant Zynga.
In a conference call, the success of Zynga was highlighted, with Zelnick noting that ad revenue had increased by 11%. The company’s title Toon Blast has surpassed a massive $2 billion, in part due to the release of new features and events.
Other strong performers in Zynga’s portfolio include Twisted Tangle, which reached the number one spot on the US Google Play store, and Empire and Puzzles, which saw strong growth quarter-on-quarter.
In terms of genres, social casino saw remarkable success in the past year, with Hit it Rich seeing its best quarter in two years while Game of Thrones Casino saw its second best quarter in history. Meanwhile, casual games such as Words with Friends and Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells saw improvements in engagement and participation thanks to the introduction of new levels and events.
Looking forward, Take-Two has a number of titles coming to iOS and Android. Star Wars Hunters and Top Troops are both scheduled for release within the current fiscal year, while Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is scheduled for a mobile release at an undisclosed date, bringing three of the franchise’s titles to phones.
We listed Take-Two Interactive as one of the top 50 mobile game makers of 2022. We’ll be unveiling our list for 2023 at our event at Gamescom on August 2022.
