Take-Two Interactive’s 2015 profits show Grand Theft Auto’s power

You have a great year when you launch a new Grand Theft Auto. You can still have a good year when you just port it to new platforms.

The company reported today a GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net revenue of $1.083 billion for fiscal year 2015, which ended on March 31. That’s down from $2.351 billion for fiscal year 2014. Non-GAAP net revenue was at $1.669 billion, down from $2.414 billion for fiscal year 2014. Non-GAAP revenues got help from digital sales, which were up 42 percent year over year at a record $616 million for the company. Revenue for recurrent consumer spending, which means in-game purchases and downloadable content in titles like Grand Theft Auto Online and Evolve, grew 45 percent year-over-year.

Of course, the huge launch of Grand Theft Auto V drove 2014’s numbers. Take-Two launched versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One last November, so the open-world game was still helping Take-Two make a profit. A PC version came out in April. Take-Two says that Grand Theft Auto V has sold nearly 52 million copies across all platforms.

No new release in 2015’s fiscal year could come close to Grand Theft Auto V’s debut, which is more of a testament to that series’ popularity than a mark against to Take-Two’s other franchises. It did launch new entries in the Borderlands and Civilization franchises and a new game, Evolve, that sold about 2.5 million copies since it came out in February.

Take-Two is predicting $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion in non-GAAP net revenue in fiscal year 2016. It will launch Battleborn, a new franchise from Gearbox, and the latest entries in the NBA and WWE 2K series. Take-Two also says that 2K is working on a new, unannounced triple-A game.