What's Going On With Take-Two Interactive Software Stock Thursday?

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc TTWO shares are trading lower Thursday in possible sympathy with Electronic Arts Inc EA, which reported preliminary third-quarter results and lowered its forecast.

What Happened: After the market close on Wednesday, EA announced that its Global Football franchise experienced a slowdown in the quarter as early momentum faded. The company previously anticipated mid-single-digit growth in live services net bookings, but now projects a mid-single-digit decline.

Separately, EA said Dragon Age only engaged approximately 1.5 million players during the quarter, about 50% lower than the company's expectations.

Due to the unexpected slowdown, EA now expects third-quarter revenue of $1.883 billion versus estimates of $2.507 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The company anticipates third-quarter earnings of $1.11 per share, in line with analyst estimates.

EA now expects net bookings of approximately $2.215 billion in the third quarter. The company provided a net bookings range of $7 billion to $7.15 billion for fiscal year 2025.

"During Q3, we continued to deliver high-quality games and experiences across our portfolio; however, Dragon Age and EA SPORTS FC 25 underperformed our net bookings expectations," said Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA. 

"This month, our teams delivered a comprehensive gameplay refresh in addition to our annual Team of the Year update in FC 25; positive player feedback and early results are encouraging. We remain confident in our long-term strategy and expect a return to growth in FY26, as we execute against our pipeline."

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EA is due to report its quarterly results after the market close on Feb. 4. Take-Two will report its third-quarter results two days later on Feb. 6. Analysts currently expect Take-Two to report earnings of 58 cents per share and revenue of $1.39 billion, according to estimates from Benzinga Pro.

EA and Take-Two are both major video game developers and publishers. The selling pressure in shares of Take-Two on Thursday appears to be related to concerns that the softness at EA this quarter could be industry-wide.

TTWO Price Action: Take-Two shares were down 3.13% at $182.11 at the time of publication Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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