Is Take-Two Still The Business You Bought? Trefis Team Wed, November 11, 2026 at 12:54 PM EST 3 min read TTWO +3.06% MSFT -2.41% RBLX +4.47% AMZN -1.84% NVDA +4.13% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
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If you own Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO), you bought a games publisher for hits such as Grand Theft Auto, NBA 2K and Zynga's mobile games. Released on November 9, the company's report for the quarter that ended September 30, 2026, offers the final look at its accounts before Grand Theft Auto VI comes out on November 19. With that launch so close, does Take-Two still work the way it did when you bought in?
Partly: Take-Two's Capital Spending Is Now Above Depreciation
A pattern in Take-Two's accounts that held for eleven quarter ends in a row broke in its fiscal second quarter of 2027, which ended September 30, 2026. From December 2023 to June 2026, the company's capital spending over each twelve months stayed below its depreciation and amortization over the same twelve months.
In the twelve months to September 30, 2026, Take-Two's capital spending came to $269 million, against $196 million of depreciation and amortization in its filing data. Management separately guides $623 million of amortization of acquired intangibles for fiscal 2027, a charge the filing figure above leaves out, so capital spending is above only that narrower measure. About half of that spending came in the September quarter alone: $138 million, against $31.9 million in the same quarter a year earlier. The excess is small, though, at 1.1% of Take-Two's revenue over the same twelve months.
Management Planned More Capital Spending At Take-Two
For fiscal 2027, management said on the November 9 call that its expectation to spend about $290 million is unchanged. In fiscal 2026, the year that ended March 31, 2026, Take-Two reported capital spending of $163 million.
Take-Two's games had a soft quarter, but the outlook for the year held. Net bookings, the company's own sales measure, were $1.6 billion in the September quarter, slightly below management's guidance, with NBA 2K27 below its forecast. Management reiterated its fiscal 2027 net bookings outlook of $8 billion to $8.2 billion. So the change in Take-Two's accounts comes from spending that management planned, not from the games it sells, whose yearly outlook still stands.
Take-Two's Free Cash Flow Fell By About Half
Over the twelve months to September 30, 2026, Take-Two's free cash flow, the cash left after capital spending, was $98.0 million, against $203 million a year earlier. Cash from operations barely moved over the same period, so the drop came from the higher spending, which used 73.3% of the cash from operations.
That is less cash left for you as a holder, at a time when Take-Two still carries more debt than cash. As of September 30, 2026, its debt exceeded its cash and short-term investments by $1,238 million. Management expects operating cash flow above $1 billion in fiscal 2027, and says Take-Two will be in a net cash position by the end of that year, in March 2027, without saying how it measures that.
From late 2023 through June 2026, you could assume Take-Two's capital spending over any twelve months stayed below its depreciation and amortization. You can no longer assume that, though management planned the change and the excess is small next to sales. Expected in February 2027, the next report will show whether Take-Two's capital spending over twelve months stays above its depreciation and amortization once the quarter with the Grand Theft Auto VI launch is in the figures.
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