Shoddy reception of Duke Nukem Forever has dragged down publisher 2K Games parent Take-Two’s earnings estimates.
Wedbush believes sell-through of the title may be only half of the initially expected 3 million copies. In response, the analyst group has lowered the company’s revenue estimates; that’s $25 million of the company’s Q1 revenue estimates down the drain.
LA Noire on the other hand is expected to perform to the tune of 4 million copies.
According to Wedbush’s Michael Pachter, Duke’s “disappointing” return is not a sign of T2’s decline though. Far from it. “Of the major publishers, Take-Two has had the fewest ‘misses’ in terms of game quality over the last two years, and as a result, delivered a profitable FY:11 without a GTA release,” he said.
“It has over a dozen core franchises, and if it can streamline development, can be expected to increase franchise releases to three or more per year.”