take-two-interactive posts

Publisher Take Two Interactive is always the last of the publicly trade game publishers to reveal its financial results. Today the company revealed that for the quarter that ended on July 31 it generated $354.1 million in revenue, a massive increase compared to the $94.9 million it made for the same period a year ago. Take Two recorded a profit of $12.4 million for the quarter compared to a loss of $58.3 million for the same period a year ago.

Part of the reason for the better numbers were the high sales of the console only game Red Dead Redemption which Take Two said has sold 6.9 million copies since its release last May. The publisher's PC game release schedule includes Civilization V, NBA 2K11 and the next Borderlands DLC release. Oddly, the press release makes no mention of Max Payne 3, the long-in-development action game that's been delayed a number of times.

Mafia 2 is by far one of the most anticipated games of the fall/holiday 2010 buying season for PC games and publisher 2K Games has gone all out to let people know about the sequel to the 2002 open world crime action game. But for all the pre-release hype and attention, a financial analyst believes it's been all for nothing in terms of making money for 2K Games' parent company Take Two Interactive.

According to IndustryGamers, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter believes that the game's mixed reviews has hurt Mafia 2's sales changes. Also, according to Pachter, "consumer interest appears to be waning, as the game's position has dropped in many best-seller lists in its first week." Pachter believes that those factors will make the game "unlikely to achieve profitability" for Take Two.

With less than a week before the release of Mafia II, the long awaited open world crime action game is taking some heat from an Italian American service group. Gamasutra reports that the group called UNICO National has sent out a press release demanding that publisher Take Two Interactive delay the release of the game and "cleanse it of all references to Italians and Italian-Americans."

The press release claims that Mafia II, developed by 2K Czech and published by Take Two's 2K Games label, continues the "denigrating stereotype of organized crime being the exclusive domain of Italians and Italian-Americans." In response, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick has issued his own statement, saying that he "fully and completely" stands behind the game and its development team, adding, "We aim to distinguish creative and compelling story telling that advances artistic expression from subject matter that gratuitously exploits or glorifies violence or stereotypes."

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This is, without a doubt, a huge rumor but if it's true it could signal the completion of a game that's been in development for well over a decade. Kotaku is reporting through unnamed sources that development of Duke Nukem Forever is underway again but not at the first person shooter's original home of 3D Realms. Instead the story claims the game is in the hands of fellow Dallas-based developer Gearbox Software.

Just a recap: 3D Realms spend a ton of time and money to make Duke Nukem Forever but disputes with the game's publisher Take Two Interactive forced lawsuits between the two companies and the shut down of the game's dev team at 3D Realms in May 2009. The legal issues between the two companies were settled earlier this year but details about the settlement were not revealed. One thing that did come up in the lawsuits was that Gearbox was working on a separate spin-off game, Duke Begins, that was halted when the issues between Take Two and 3D Realms begin in 2009.

Reps from Take Two and 3D Realms would not comment on these latest rumors but Gearbox head man Randy Pitchford said he may be able to say something to clarify the issue at this year's Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle in September. Could PAX finally be the light at the end of this long, dark tunnel that is Duke Nukem Forever's development? Stay tuned.

2K Games has confirmed to Big Download via a PR rep that developer Firaxis Games, home based to gaming design legend Sid Meier and his best selling Civilization strategy game series, has laid off a number of its team members this week. Internet reports of the layoffs started appearing earlier today. Here is 2K Games' full statement:

I can confirm that Firaxis has realigned its development resources in order to streamline its development process, reduce costs and maximize the overall performance of the studio. This will result in the elimination of approximately 20 positions. These reductions will not impact Firaxis' ability to create and deliver AAA titles, including its forthcoming Sid Meier's Civilization V and Sid Meier's Civilization Network for Facebook.

A note on Firaxis' web page says that the company employs 130 people which means that the 20 team members that were laid off this week amount to about 15 percent of the studio's total employees. Civilization V, which was officially announced last March, is set for release in September. Civilization Network, the highly anticipated Facebook-based game was first revealed last October but so far does not yet have a launch date.

The X-Com game franchise remains one of the most loved in all of PC gaming history. The original X-Com UFO Defense from the now defunct publisher Microprose is still a very good example of addictive turn-based strategy gameplay. The X-Com trademark is now owned by Take Two Interactive via their 2K Games brand and after several years of waiting the franchise is now coming back to life but in a very different version.

Yep, there's a reason why the new game is called XCOM (with no hyphen). The title, which is being made from developer 2K Marin's Australian offices, has shifted its focus from a strategy title to a first person shooter. Many fans of the original X-Com games have already cried foul claiming that this is not their idea of a new X-Com game. And we agree with them up to a point. This is definitely not what we pictured a new entry in the series would be like. At the same time, that doesn't mean this new title has to be a bad game. We got a chance to see a live demo of XCOM in action during E3 2010 and at the moment we think it could be a solid game title in its own right.

Just over a year ago, 3D Realms, the Dallas-based developer of the long awaited and long-in-development first person shooter Duke Nukem Forever, let go of the game's development team. So began a saga that culminated in lawsuits filed by both 3D Realms and the game's publisher Take Two Interactive, each accusing the other of charges of breaching contracts surrounding the game.

Today it was revealed that both parties have agreed to settle their differences with Shacknews reporting that in a court filing on May 28, that "any and all claims that were or could have been asserted by the parties, is dismissed with prejudice." Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the filing and its still unknown what the current development status is on Duke Nukem Forever or if Take Two will still publish the game. Big Download contacted 3D Realms' CEO Scott Miller over the phone today but he would not comment for this article.

Rockstar Games surprised a lot of people, including financial analysts, with the sales success of Red Dead Redemption. The Wild West open world action game from Rockstar's San Diego dev team not only got great reviews but Rockstar's parent company Take Two Interactive said the game sold over 5 million copies since its release in May.

Red Dead Redemption is also a console exclusive release. Naturally some folks would like to see the game on the PC. Rockstar's official web site answers a fan's question about such a PC port by saying there are no "current" plans to offer the game on our platform. That doesn't mean we won't see a PC port at some point as Rockstar is notorious for releasing PC versions of their console games months and sometimes years after the games first come out on consoles.

Those of you who have been wanting to try out a piece of the mafia will get your wish, at least in virtual form. In today's regular financial conference call to analysts today, Take-Two Interactive's CEO Ben Feder confirmed that a demo for Mafia II is in the works and will be released for, among other platforms, "the internet" before the full game is scheduled for release on August 24.

We are going to take a leap here and assume Feder meant "PC version" when he said "the internet". In any case it should allow folks who have been waiting for this open world action game sequel for a long time to finally get their hands on some virtual tommy guns.

It's looking like the release of Max Payne 3 is suffering from some severe production issues. The next game in the third person shooter series has had its release date pushed back yet again by publisher Take Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games. In their latest financial press release Take Two said Max Payne 3 'has been moved out of fiscal 2010." Take Two's fiscal year ends on October 31.

The game was first announced back in March 2009 with a "winter 2009" release date. Developed by Rockstar Vancouver (taking over from the game's originators Remedy) Max Payne 3 has had its release date pushed back more than once since the original announcement. It now looks like the game will be released over a year after it was originally scheduled to ship.