Bioshock 2 delayed; Take-Two’s stock takes a hit

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Just after Take-Two Interactive Software this afternoon said it would delay the release of BioShock 2 until 2010, investors punished the New York publisher’s stock, pushing it down more than 12% in after-hours trading.

Take-Two shares plunged $1.12 to $7.86 after gaining 14 cents following its BioShock 2 bomb announcement.

BioShock is a marquee franchise for Take-Two, which also publishes Grand Theft Auto and 2K Sports games.

The move is bad news for the company’s current fiscal year, which ends October 31, but great news for its 2010 fiscal year, said Jesse Divnich, director of analyst services at Electronic Entertainment Design & Research in Carlsbad, Calif.

‘I expect them to dominate fiscal 2010,’ Divnich said. ‘BioShock 2, Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption, Mafia II, additional Grand Theft Auto Downloadable Content (DLC), and the possible launch of Agent should make fiscal 2010 the year of Take-Two. As far as I am concerned, Take-Two is just moving numbers from one financial year to another.’

Take-Two also said its sales of older releases, so-called catalog titles, as well as retail orders of new releases, have been soft. With the economy eating into game sales and the delay of BioShock 2, the company forecast lower-than-expected earnings for the remainder of this fiscal year.

UPDATED: An earlier version of the post said it was unclear whether BioShock 2 could still hit store shelves this holiday, which falls into the company’s 2010 fiscal year. After the release of the announcement, company executives said they expected the title to ship between January 2010 and June 2010. No BioShock 2 stocking stuffers this year.

-- Alex Pham and Ben Fritz