As a result of a stock option scandal and a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, Take-Two Interactive has held off on its periodic financial report filings since June of last year. The publisher announced the results of an independent investigation into the scandal earlier this month, with blame for the misdeeds placed on its founder and former CEO Ryan Brant. That left the publisher free today to finally file again, releasing results for its full fiscal year 2006, which ended October 31, 2006.

　　For the year, Take-Two brought in more than $1 billion in revenue, but fell short of the $1.2 billion it posted during the previous fiscal year, which started the week after Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was originally released on the PlayStation 2. Additionally, the publisher's fiscal year 2005 net profit of $35.3 million evaporated into a loss of $184.9 million in 2006.

　　Take-Two blamed the downturn on a number of factors, including the transition to the new generation of consoles, higher development costs, and a continued investment in 2K Sports. According to the publisher, the installed user base of the new systems "was not yet sufficient to support the development and licensing costs of the sports business."

　　That said, the publisher did reaffirm that it believes the investments it has made into next-generation development and the sports business will have a positive impact on its current fiscal year results, and that 2K Sports will achieve profitability before January. Among the titles the publisher expects to ship before the October 31 end of its fiscal year are BioShock for the Xbox 360 and PC, The Darkness on multiple platforms, The Bigs on multiple platforms, and sports games, such as NBA 2K8, NHL 2K8, and its recently announced All Pro Football 2K8.

　　As in previous years, a Grand Theft Auto game was once again the company's best seller. But unlike the company's 2005 and 2004 fiscal years--both of which featured the PS2 version of San Andreas at the top of the heap--this year the company's best seller was a portable title. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories on the PSP accounted for 7.5 percent of the company's revenue for the year, fending off the Xbox 360 edition of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which was responsible for 6.1 percent of net revenue. The company's top five was rounded out by the PS2 edition of Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories for the PSP, and Oblivion for the PC in third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.

　　Looking ahead, Take-Two expects to post first quarter revenue on par with or perhaps up slightly from the year before. In addition, the publisher's expected net losses of $23 million to $25 million would be an improvement from the $29 million net loss it posted for the three months ended January 31, 2006. For the full fiscal year, Take-Two is projecting revenue between $1.2 billion and $1.25 billion, with a profitable fourth quarter helping it to break even for the full year. Grand Theft Auto IV is expected to launch for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 16, just weeks before the end of the publisher's fiscal year.