Take-Two forecasts downbeat second-quarter net bookings on muted gamer spending

investing.com:

(Reuters) -Take-Two Interactive Software forecast second-quarter net bookings below Wall Street targets on Tuesday, in a sign that spending on games was under pressure amid persistent inflationary pressures.

Spending on videogame content, including new games and character skins, was flat in the first half of the year, while console sales rose 23%, according to data from gaming research firm Circana.

Last fiscal, Take-Two (NASDAQ:TTWO) incurred $79 million in costs relating to unreleased and canceled titles. It canceled «several titles» that were a part of its fiscal 2026 pipeline to focus on those games with «higher levels of conviction and expectations of success».

The videogame publisher forecast net bookings for the September quarter between $1.4 billion and $1.45 billion, the mid-point of which is below analysts' average estimate of $1.45 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

Its net bookings for the first quarter, however, rose 20% to $1.20 billion, driven by strong demand for its proven gaming titles including «Grand Theft Auto» and «NBA 2K». Analysts expected $1.21 billion.

Take-Two said net bookings from customers who make in-game purchases rose 38% in the quarter ended June 30.

Ad revenue also grew about 11% during the quarter, driven by improvements at Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA)'s mobile games business.

Shares of the company were up 2% in trading after the bell.